Unique Trilogy 1: Living in Another Dimension
by Amaranth33
Summary: Okay so this takes place six years after the TV show and I am using 2 OC's as, love interests for Zim and Dib  let's see how well that goes   My very first post on fanfiction yay! Please review. Constructive criticizem is always good :
1. Chapter 1: Rift

Living in Another Dimension

Chapter 1 Rift

Alex flew high over the snow-covered city towards the outskirts to the forest. Snow fell and landed on her fifteen foot raven wings and the icy wind kept her wings cool. Ahead she could see a figure with long blonde hair and wings larger than her own but just as dark. She knew it was Sally.

"You okay? You seemed as if you were distressed when you called." Sally asked.

"Erasers." Alex answered.

"Erasers?" Sally asked confused.

"The guards from the school. They hunt us down for the white-coats." She explained briefly. She didn't talk about where she came from any more than Sally did herself. Both were fairly young to have the problems they did. Alex was sixteen and had been born/created in a lab she calls The School and has been hunted by the guards ever since she escaped. Sally on the other hand is half dark witch and half demon. Her mother is the witch while her father is Lucifer, ruler of Hell. She did not share the same views as her family so she left when she was fifteen and her brother has been hunting her down as well as a number of others.

"Ah, okay." She answered as they landed next to a fast rushing river.

"Hm. I've never seen this river before." Alex commented.

"Yeah. I was right here yesterday and there is no way it was here. I would have noticed." Sally agreed.

"That's weird." She said and knelt at the edge and looked at the water.

"This is strange. Rivers do not just appear overnight." Sally said walking down the river looking for anything to indicate how it had appeared overnight when she heard a splash of the water.

She spun around to see that Alex was no longer where she knelt but in the water fighting it to keep her head up and get to the edge.

Sally grabbed a branch and snatched Alex's wrist to pull her out but the current was very strong and the branch broke, causing both of them to fall into the water and that was when Sally truly understood why Alex had been having so much trouble. The current was unnaturally strong but she refused to let go of Alex.

They dropped into a pond that sucked them to the bottom like a whirlpool and everything was black.

They both woke up at the same time coughing up water. They were in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. It was dark out and the air was thicker. They heard the sounds of a city not too far away so they both got up and followed to see an unfamiliar city.

"Where are we?" Alex asked.

"A parallel dimension." Sally answered.

"What makes you say that?" Alex asked.

"Hell exists in all dimensions, being Lucifer's daughter gives me this knowledge." She said shortly and started walking. Alex followed and walked next to her. They stopped when they found themselves at a park. No one was around which was good.

"What are we supposed to do about living? Can we even get back?" Alex asked.

"I think the real second question would be, do we want to go back?" Sally answered.

"Good point. So do you know anything about this place?" She asked.

"Not really, only that it is more technologically advanced and most of the people are fairly stupid." Sally answered.

"Let me guess those who are smart, are extremely smart." Alex said.

"Yes there is that as well." She answered.

"So maybe if we find someone who is very smart, we can explain what happened and hope they can tell us about this world and weather we can live here or not." Alex said.

"I don't have any other ideas so we might as well try. It seems that we can blend for the most part the way we are." Sally said and they started walking and found themselves in a neighborhood.

"These houses are so weird." Sally commented after looking around the circle that ended the road.

"Looks like someone is trying too hard to blend in hu?" Alex asked pointing to a small purple house with several lawn gnomes and a flag that had "I 3 Earth" on it.

"No kidding but these people are too stupid to see that. Maybe we can ask for help from them." Sally said.

"Might as well." Alex said and walked right up to the door and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately the door opened and robotic parents stood there. They were fairly good, but it was still easy for them to tell that they weren't real.

"Yes may I help you?" The female asked.

"Hi, um is there anyone else who lives here?" Sally asked.

"Why yes, there is our son and our dog, our son is busy right now but would you like to meet the dog?" The male asked.

"Sure." Alex said so they let them in and a green dog that walked around on two legs sat on the couch watching TV, obviously a fake dog.

"Hi people!" The dog said.

"Um, hi, what's your name?" Sally asked the "dog."

"Gir!" He said.

A boy who looked around their age walked in from the kitchen. He was taller than even Alex who stood at a good 5' 8" while Sally stood at 5'6." Sally guessed he was about three inches taller than Alex. He also had green skin, no ears, black hair and blue eyes. Obviously not human but that didn't mean he was a threat.

"Hello, my name is Alex and this is my friend Sally, we need some help, and I believe that you could help us." Alex said politely.

"Why should I when you just walk right into my house?" He asked.

"We didn't, your fake robot parents let us in to meet your fake dog." Sally answered.

"Fake? What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Well we aren't exactly from here and we don't think you are either considering the flag. But we think that you're at least from this dimension." Alex explained.

"You're lying! I am a perfectly normal Earth-monkey." He said.

"See? Earth-monkey, we've been here for one hour and we already know that no one says that. Cut the crap dude, we don't want to expose you're act or anything to the world we just want to know what you know about this world or if there is anyone we can talk to, someone who is actually smart enough to since most of the people on this planet are stupid." Alex said.

"You've been here for an hour?" He asked.

"Yes. We aren't from here; we aren't even from this dimension okay? We just want to know what it's like here, if we'll be able to live here without really having to worry about anything. You know live here normally they way you seem to be able to and you're obviously smarter than the other's who live here." Alex said exasperatedly.

"Hm. Well you are right about my intelligence Earth-monkey." He said.

"Alex." She corrected.

"What?" He asked.

"My name is Alex, I told you this and this is Sally our names are not Earth-monkey." She said.

"Fine, fine, Alex. You are correct about my superior intelligence and I suppose I should say that you two are correct about not being from here." He said and peeled off the eyes and pulled off the hair to reveal antenna and ruby eyes.

"Cool. So you're from anther planet?" She asked.

"Yes, yes." He said.

"So how long have you been here? Do you age the same way as humans?" Sally asked.

"I have been here for six Earth years and typically I do not age the same way, but it seems while being here I have aged, or seem to, age the same." Zim said.

"Why are you here?" Alex asked.

"To blend, gather information and prepare the Earth to be invaded." He said. Over the past six years Zim was still fairly eccentric, but he has matured a lot as well and knows how to calm down and several of his plans have succeeded, but they weren't big enough to actually cause much damage.

"Invade? So you do mean to cause harm." Alex said.

"If he hasn't yet then I don't think he will anytime soon." Sally said rolling her eyes.

"Silence! I will destroy all of you pitiful humans!" He said dramatically, which seemed unnecessary to Sally but Alex seemed to find it funny.

"We aren't exactly human ourselves." Sally said.

"You're lying!" He said.

Alex took off her windbreaker and spread out her fifteen-foot wings filling up most of the room. She folded them back up and Sally turned a dial on her watch and her waist length blonde hair grew so that it was about at her calves, her crimson eyes became brighter and literally glowed and her own wings grew from her back at about fourteen feet in wingspan. She had a watch that neutralized her magic and power but now that she has switched it so it was released she even had a black aura around her with what looked like a silver and red shimmer swirling in. Alex always guessed that that part was magic or something.

"You were saying?" Sally asked.


	2. Chapter 2: Dreams Become Reality

Chapter 2 Dreams Become Reality

About an hour later they left Zim's house and Sally was glad of t too. She didn't really have a problem with him, but the fact that he was sort of cocky and eccentric annoyed her.

"Zim is funny." Alex commented.

"You're not annoyed of his cockyness and being eccentric and loud?" Sally asked surprised.

"I know it's weird. Normally I would be annoyed by it, but with Zim I find it funny." She said with a shrug.

"Don't tell me you're starting to like him." Sally said.

"Just because I find him funny doesn't mean I like him." Alex replied rolling her eyes.

"Just wondering." She said with a shrug.

"So we're going to see this guy Dib right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Zim's nemesis, his family is smart." Sally answered.

"This day is turning into something very strange. This is all so similar to a TV show." Alex commented.

"You mean that awesome and demented one "Invader Zim"? Yeah this is just like it, right down to the robot parents. Wonder if Dib is just as similar." Sally said.

"You think the creator of the show knew about this world or is it just an eerie coincidence that they're almost exactly the same?" Alex asked.

"Both possibilities could be true, but I'd rather just push the similarities to the side and continue with figuring this place out on our own." Sally answered.

"Hm, yeah guess that's a good idea." Alex agreed as they went around a corner and down a street. They stopped at a house that did indeed look alike to the one in the TV show, but they ignored that and went to the door. Sally rang the doorbell this time.

A girl with golden eyes, short magenta hair and dark clothing answered the door. She looked like she was about fifteen or so.

"Who are you?" The emotionless girl asked. She held a handheld game consol in her hand.

"I'm Sally, this is Alex. Is Dib home?" Sally said.

"Dib!" She shouted over her shoulder.

A boy with spiky black hair, round glasses, brown eyes and wore a blue t-shirt with an emotionless face on it, a black trench coat and combat boots came up behind her and asked, "What is it Gaz?"

"Some girls are here to see you." She said simply and went back into the house.

"Um hi, who are you?" He asked.

"I'm Sally, this is Alex and someone said that you could probably help us." Sally said.

"Who?" He asked.

"Er, Zim." Alex said.

"What do you need help with?" He asked suspiciously.

"Um, is there anyone listening?" Alex asked.

"No." He said simply.

"Well, we are from another dimension, parallel to this one and we are trying to find out if it would be better for us to just stay in this world or to try and get back to our own." Sally explained. He gave us a quizzical look as if to ask if we were crazy.

She sighed and asked, "It's true, we don't know this place at all and we aren't Extra Terrestrials, earlier today we were in a forest and we came across a river that had appeared overnight. We fell in and woke up here. Yes I know it sounds crazy but it's true. This place is more technologically advanced which doesn't make much sense since most of the people here are dumber."

"Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?" He asked.

"Yes, yes we do. But it is true and we can prove it." Alex said and pulled out her cell phone and video camera. He took the phone and looked through it and said, "I've only seen phones like these in books about history of technology."

Alex then showed him various videos on her video camera, most of while she was flying but it still had good footage that proved what they said.

"Fine, maybe what you say could be true, but why don't you just find a way back home? Why stay here?" He asked.

"We have nothing worth staying for in our world, we have each other but both of us are here." Alex said shortly.

"So will you tell us about your world or not? Because we can only get so much information from Zim that is completely correct." Sally asked.

"Hm, good point." He said and thought about it and seemed to decide that it wouldn't hurt tell them about his world. They sat on the steps outside the house and he talked about Mostly things seemed to run the same as their own dimension besides the fact that most everyone was completely oblivious of everything and could be convinced of anything.

"Well it should be fairly easy to live here." Alex concluded.

"I think it'll be funny." Sally said shrugging.

"So I told you what you wanted to know. What is your world like?" Dib asked.

"Well…we aren't really the best people from our world to ask that." Alex said.

"Why?" He asked.

"Well, we didn't really grow up happy, Sally didn't even live there up until three years ago when she left home." Alex answered.

"So it's a bad place?" He asked.

"No, not really, just we had bad experiences." Sally answered.

"Hm…So what do you think about the paranormal?" He asked. Alex and Sally both found it to be a random question.

"What about it? Do people not believe in that stuff?" Sally asked. She was a part of the paranormal herself being half witch and half demon but only Alex knew that, all Zim knows is that she and Alex are more than human.

"Mm not many. Most people think I'm crazy." He answered.

"Eh, I don't think you are." Sally said.

"Yeah not too many from our world truly believe in that stuff either." Alex said shrugging.

"Everyone I know just thinks I'm crazy, well besides Zim, but I don't count him." He said.

"I admire you for not wavering in your beliefs despite what other people think." Sally said in an approving sort of tone.

_Hm, it seems Sally has taken a liking to Dib. Wonder what he would think if he knew that she was part of the paranormal. He'd probably freak._ Alex thought.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said with a small smile that was rare for Sally when she was around new people.

"Well we should go find a place to stay so we can make it to enroll in school tomorrow." Alex said since it was about one in the morning.

"What does the money here look like?" Sally asked Dib. He showed her money, it was the same thing.

"Well at least the money's the same. Know any cheep hotels around?" Alex asked.

He scribbled down directions and handed them to her.

"Thanks for the info and directions. See you around." Alex said with a wave and walked down the sidewalk.

"Thanks Dib, see you later." Sally said with a wave and followed Alex as they followed his directions.

Once at the hotel and in their room they both plopped onto a bed and let out a sigh.

"This has got to have turned into the weirdest day of my entire life." Sally said.

"And how long exactly would that be?" Alex asked.

"Seventeen years." She said simply.

"How many human years?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Time is almost nonexistent back home human time is so fast. Guess I'll end up like Zim and start aging as fast as humans." She answered with a shrug.

"Wonder if we'd ever adjust to living in this world or if we'd ever end up going back to the other dimension." Alex wondered aloud.

"Speak for yourself I barely had time to get use to the other world, time runs so fast in these worlds no wonder humans are always in a rush." Sally answered.

After a few minutes Sally spoke up and asked, "You know you'll never find your parents in this world."

"It doesn't matter. I found them already and they're dead." Alex said simply.

"Oh." She answered. She knew it wouldn't do any good to say, "I'm sorry." She had only known Alex for a year but they both already knew each other very well even if they didn't know much of the other's past. Sally knew her well enough that apologizing was stupid since Alex never knew her parents and it didn't help to know that they had sold her for $20,000 from the beginning, she had just originally wanted to meet them to see what they were like now.

"Whatever, enough of the depressing stuff, we can start over in a new world, maybe even make more friends and have fun and a normal life." Alex said sitting up with a small smile. Alex had always cherished the possibility of having a normal life, both of them did, just being safe and being normal. Now they had the chance.

"Yeah, maybe here our dreams can become a reality." Sally agreed.

"It will, no one knows where we are, we're safe and we can have the lives we use to talk about having." Alex said determinedly getting a small smile from Sally.


	3. Chapter 3: Skool

Chapter 3 Skool

Alex was the first to wake up the next morning. Her short blonde hair was all over the place. When she saw it in the mirror she immediately thought of the gorgon Medusa and her snake hair. Her violet eyes looked more grey that purple but maybe that was just because she had just woken up. She walked over to Sally's bed and flipped the mattress with ease.

_Sometimes being genetically modified can have its uses, a little more strength than normal is always useful._ She thought hearing a light thud when Sally hit the floor.

"What the hell?" Sally almost shouted.

"Keep it down, others are sleeping." Alex said.

"You just threw me out of the damn bed!" Sally snapped.

"Yeah you needed to wake up. We need to get an early start if we want to enroll in school and find jobs so we won't be staying in a hotel while here. Now get off the floor and get ready." Alex said.

"I wouldn't need to get off the floor if you didn't dump me to the floor." Sally grumbled.

"Aw get over it, you'll live." Alex said shrugging.

Sally got up grumbling and fixed the bed and got ready. When they were both ready they left and got a map and went to find the school. When they arrived their jaws dropped. Neither of them had ever seen a school that said, "High Skool" on it. It was right down the road from another that said, "Middle Skool" on it and around the corner there was the Elementary school that simply said, "Skool."

"Wow. Creative naming hu?" Alex said.

"No kidding." Sally agreed as they walked inside to the office.

The secretary just mumbled and typed rapidly. Paper printed off and she handed the paper to them. They took it without a word and searched for their classroom. Apparently they had called while they walked because when they entered the classroom a creepy old woman who was obviously the teacher said, "Class I would like to introduce two new students. Meet Alex and Sally. Girls if you have anything to say then go ahead and say because I don't want to hear your talking the rest of the year."

"I don't think we really have anything to say." Alex said so they took their assigned seats.

They sat next to each other, but Alex sat behind Zim and Sally was sitting in front of Dib (Writer: Coincidence? I think not).

They class wasn't long, the teacher, Ms. Bitters (Writer: It seems she followed the students, hmm sounds like my teachers from middle school) talked about the many ways the Universe will be destroyed and other things in that nature. Before anyone knew it, it was lunchtime.

"So you two have enrolled. You're actually staying?" Zim asked.

"Yes." Alex answered.

"Then I must destroy you because you two know of my identity." He said.

She rolled her eyes and said, "If we were to tell people of your true identity, we would have done so already and we would have easily proven it."

"Hm…I suppose I don't need to just yet." He said.

"You couldn't even if you tried." Sally interjected.

"You're lying! I could easily destroy you bird-humans!" He said in his overly dramatic way that only Zim could possibly pull off.

"You need to calm down and if you have yet to succeed in destroying Dib after six years, you couldn't destroy us." Sally said while getting in the lunch line.

"Fools! I could easily destroy you." He responded.

"Chill out, you're in a school not at a rock concert you don't have to keep being so loud and besides everyone else will hear you." Sally said exasperatedly.

"A rock concert?" Zim asked.

"A genre of music." Alex answered.

They went through the line and got their food.

"Okay so no empty tables." Alex said when they looked around for an empty table to sit at.

"Well, there would be if Dib and Zim sat together, but both of them are sitting alone at their own tables." Sally said pointing out the two tables.

"Maybe we can talk them into sitting together." Alex asked they both looked at each other and laughed. Like that would happen.

"Well I don't want to sit at one table and leave the other sitting alone, it'd make me feel bad." Sally said.

"Yeah, having a conscience sucks. You actually care weather you hurt someone's feeling or not unless they do you wrong." Alex commented. They choose to sit outside and there were two tables there so it seemed they were allowed to sit there. They preferred that anyways since there was no one else out there they could talk privately.

"Okay so during study hall we can go to the library and search for job openings." Sally said.

"And apartments or small houses." Alex added.

"Yeah, we have enough money that should get us through the first month or two of rent for an apartment based on a few ads I've seen around town." Sally said.

"But first I think we should find a clothing store that suits us and get some more clothes cause three outfits is not going to cut it with me for long, it's one thing doing that while on the run, it's different when you have a roof over your head and access to a shower." Alex said.

"I agree. School seems so easy here. All Ms. Bitters seems to talk about is the doom of, well everything, that's all she talks about, no wonder so many of the students are so screwed up, having the same teacher teach them about the destruction of, well, everything from elementary to high school, I'd probably be a dimwitted kid too. How Dib and Zim made it through without going crazy from all the bitterness and depression she radiates I will don't think I will be able to comprehend." Sally said.

"Well, maybe they just tuned it out." Alex said shrugging.

"I guess so. I found it pretty easy." She said shrugging.

"I'm sure after how many years you'd learn to tune it out." Alex said.

"Yeah." Sally agreed.

During study hall Alex and Sally both headed to the library and to the computers. Sitting next to each other they both looked for jobs and apartments. They didn't see any reason to look for a house since it was just the two of them and they really didn't care at this point where they lived as long as it was livable under their standards. They scribbled all they needed down in notebooks and headed to class when the bell rang. Alex headed to Chorus while Sally went to Science.

Both Zim and Dib were in Sally's science class but she wasn't really surprised, both seemed to excel when it came to technology and science. She took her seat at a table and read a book she had found interesting in the library until class started.

Alex was one of about twenty in the Chorus class. She found it appalling that very few people were in the starting class that meant that there had to be no more than fifty people in entire program. Either the program was poor or very few supported and were interested in music since she knew there were very few in Band as well.

When school ended students were literally climbing out windows and racing out the door as if a long break had started. Sally and Dib walked to their lockers together while talking about a project they had been assigned to work on together for science.

Alex went to her locker as well, she still had a few minutes before she was going to meet up with Sally in the library again so she took her time. Especially when she had seen Sally and Dib walking together to their own lockers. Neither of the two girls knew much about anyone they've met yet, but Alex thought that Dib and Sally at least seemed like they could be cute together.

"Oh god I sound like a high school girl on a reality show." She muttered and practically jumped out of her skin when someone slammed her locker door shut. She was glad that at least she had moved her hand before they had done that.

"What the hell?" She snapped and turned to see Zim.

"What the? What was that for? You could have taken my hand off." She demanded.

"I need a test subject for a science project." He said.

"Yeah…so?" She asked.

"I need you to be my test subj-

"No." She immediately said.

"Why not? It's just a simple experiment." He demanded.

"I am done with being someone's lab rat, find someone else." She snapped. She actually didn't mean to say that specifically since it gave away part of her past.

"Lab rat?" He asked.

"Nothing. But no I will not be your stupid test subject." She said simply and shoved her books into her bag and headed off to meet Sally.

Sally waited at a table with Dib while they discussed their project when Alex walked over.

"You do not look happy. Who pissed in your cereal?" Sally asked. Dib gave a confused look from the way Sally had asked the question but both Alex and Sally ignored it.

"Zim." Alex answered simply.

"Why? What'd he do?" Sally asked.

"Well for one thing, he almost took my hand off with my own locker, another he wanted me to be his stupid lab rat for a science project or something like that." She explained.

"Oh, that was not a smart idea on his part." Sally said. Dib was still confused but decided it was best not to ask and said, "Well I should go, see you both tomorrow." He got up and left. Alex sat down and immediately started up a computer, silent as the grave.


	4. Chapter 4: Why is this Crap Coming Back?

Chapter 4 "I Thought We Were Done with this Crap"

Their first week flew by in a blur of work, school; moving into an apartment and shopping for things they needed for it as well some new clothes. Dib was at their apartment a lot so he and Sally could work on their science project since it annoyed Gaz (well nearly everything annoyed Gaz, a fact that Sally and Alex quickly learned). Alex said nothing about it but it was a little annoying to her as well. Not so much that they were spending a bunch of time together, but more of the fact that whatever their project was, it was noisy. They were in a small apartment complex and the only ones living there. It was, apparently rare for new people to come to this city.

Saturday afternoon they finally finished with shopping for what they needed and everything was where they wanted it. They two both plopped on the futon that served as their couch and let out a sigh. Neither liked shopping and they were glad to be done with it.

"Finally done." Sally said.

"Yeah. And I think this was our first week without being attacked by something or someone." Alex added.

"You I think you're right, our first quiet week. That is awesome." Sally answered.

"Yeah. We haven't even gone flying around the city yet. We should do that." Alex added.

"Let me take a nap first." Sally wined and laid on the cushion and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Aw lazy." Alex said and got up and stepped out on the balcony of the kitchen. She spread out her wings a little bit and jumped, snapping her wings open and slowly flapped them as she climbed higher and higher to the clouds. Her hair whipped all around her face as she flew. Once she was at a height where she figured no one would notice her she coasted on the air currents and let the wind carry her. The fall air was cool but the sun warmed her black feathers and her wings.

She closed her eyes enjoying stretching her wings after keeping them tightly folded for so long.

Sally took an hour nap and noticed that Alex had gone on her own to fly. She thought it was a good idea so she locked the door and went to the balcony. She focused and her wings shot straight from her back. She hated having to keep them in for so long and knew it would feel great when she took off.

She jumped from the balcony and her wings snapped open and she felt and heard several stiff joints pop and climbed higher in the sky feeling exhilarated. She didn't know what flying really was until she flew high in the atmosphere of the planet the first time after she had left home. The air was much cleaner. It was damp from the underground or sulfuric from fire from some of the different parts of Hell.

Alex opened her eyes just in time to veer out of the way of a large flying object. She whirled around to see that it was some kind of ship.

It veered around as well and some kind of purplish screen opened and she could see Zim flying the craft. The window opened as well and he looked mad too.

"Learn to fly." Alex said to him.

"Me? You should watch where you're going!" He argued.

"I was just enjoying a peaceful flight. You should slow down and stop being in a rush all the time." She said irritated, the temperature started to respond to her irritation by heating up. Her emotions were linked to the weather so she often either made sure she was emotionless or had only positive emotions. Her negative emotions were very dangerous. She hated the ability and she had hopped that it wouldn't work in a different dimension, of course it would, it was just her luck.

"You came out of nowhere." He tried to argue again.

"I am a person flying in broad daylight with fifteen foot black wings how in the hell could you miss me when you were flying headlong at me? I bet Gir was distracting you wasn't he?" She said exasperatedly.

"Of course not. Nothing distracts Zim!" He said in his dramatic way that always amused Alex. She giggled a little and said sarcastically, "Right."

"You're flying!" Gir said in his high-pitched robot voice and pointed at Alex.

"Yes." Alex said and couldn't help but smile. Gir was so adorable, even the most stonehearted person couldn't be around him and not smile.

"Gir! Get away from the controls!" Zim snapped at him.

"Like I said, Gir was distracting you." Alex said and went back to flying in the direction.

"Yay! I'm a distraction!" Gir said cheerfully with a smile.

"Silence!" Zim shouted.

Alex heard the two since she wasn't too far and laughed out loud, something that was very rare for her since she never really had much reason to laugh until she befriended Sally and vise versa. Her good mood was short lived though when something was shot at her from below. She had to stop quickly (never good when flying) to avoid getting hit.

"What the?" She asked and looked down. With her raptor vision she could see what looked like police below and shooting up at her.

"Really? I thought I was done with being shot at." She wined and flew quickly towards the forest and dove into the trees. She landed in a tree and stayed still, listening closely.

_Really? Did they seriously shoot at me? I didn't do anything, stupid narrow-minded idiots._ She thought. She doubted that Zim was even seen, if would be just her luck that she would be the one spotted.

When she was sure that they were gone she jumped down. When she landed she hissed in pain and felt a sharp sting on her right shoulder and wing. She pulled the sleeve of her shirt back to see a fairly deep graze on her shoulder and an odd bullet hole in her wing right behind it.

_Guess adrenaline kicked in before I felt the pain. _She thought and folded her wings in and shifted her shirt so the wound and blood wasn't very noticeable and headed back to the apartment.

Meanwhile Sally flew over the beach and around the ocean. Since it was chilly no one was at the beach. She noticed a cave in the cliff and landed there to explore. She went inside and looked around. She had a feeling that she really shouldn't be there but she couldn't help but check it out and she didn't even understand why she had that feeling, or at least she didn't at first.

She saw a red glow ahead and walked to find it and immediately regretted it.

There was what looked like a pond, but it glowed red and had a ring of fire around it. She could hear tormented shrieks escaping from it and feel the evil radiating off it as well. She knew that she was the only one who could actually see and hear this, but the evil feeling anyone with common sense could feel. It was a portal to Hell, only people who die and are meant to go to Hell and people who are from Hell can see them, although to those who are sent it does not seem so frightening.

The flames became more intense and she immediately turned around and ran, knowing that something was coming out of the portal and she didn't want to be around to find out what it was. She took off to the sky when she was out of the cave. A purple ship flew above and out towards the ocean.

_Probably some new scheme of Zim's that is sure to either fail or not help him at all._ Sally thought. In their first week there alone they have already witnessed two schemes and four fights between him and Dib. Alex was right they were entertaining. She flew back to the apartment to find Alex at the sink patching herself up at the shoulder. She could see an already patched up hole on her wing and asked, "What happened?"

"Well I was flying, you know minding my own business. Ran into Zim, but that's not the point, after we went our separate ways I got shot at by the police cause they seem to be just as narrow-minded as the humans back home." Alex explained.

"So you are stuck with three days of no flying. That is hilarious." Sally answered.

"Shut up, it's not funny." Alex snapped.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better I won't fly so you won't be all alone." She said.

"No you don't have to do that. Just don't rub it in." Alex said.

"Okay. I won't." Sally promised.

"So you seemed in a hurry getting back here." Alex said.

"I found a portal to Hell, and something was coming out of it." She answered.

"Really? Geez I get shot at and you find a portal to Hell already." She commented.

"I know. But hey that's longer than what it use to be so I'm still okay, maybe today was just a karma kind of day." Sally said shrugging.

"I hope so. I had thought that we would have been done with this crap." Alex answered.

"Me too. I'm sure it was just a day of karma. Everything will go back to all we have to worry about it normal things plus weather Zim will destroy something during a new scheme or if Zim and Dib will break another table in the cafeteria for fighting." Sally answered.

"Always entertaining, don't want our lives to get too boring like the average teenagers. Just hope they don't take their fighting here while you and Dib are working on your project." Alex said.

"Yeah then we'd have to kick them out of the building and then watch with snacks. It's just so much easier to just let them have their little fights without having to interfere." Sally agreed.


	5. Chapter 5: Zim's New Scheme

Chapter 5 Zim's New Scheme

Note: The idea for Zim's plan came from my bestest friend Katherine cause I was having problems with thinking of a plan for him to have cause I suck at that stuff (also known as Phantom of the Black Pearl on here, you should read her Phantom of the Opera fanfic when it appears Dec. 1o or 11)

Zim didn't show up for school the following Monday. No one seemed very surprised though, Sally and Alex guessed that either he was sick, or he was working on a new scheme. The latter was most likely so Alex and Sally sat with Dib since it was also raining outside. Sally and Dib were putting the finishing touches on their project and finished it before lunch period was over with. They had finished their project a month early.

"Over achievers." Alex said to them. Sally just shrugged and said, "So we're good with science."

"Or you two just both love it and you're good with it." She answered.

"Well there's that too." Dib agreed.

"Wonder what Zim's next plan is." Alex said.

"Who cares? Either it won't do him any good or it'll fail." Sally said.

"But they're entertaining and most of them could work if Dib and Zim weren't always getting in each other's way." Alex pointed out.

"You and Zim; either best friends or arch enemies and there is a fine line." Sally said to Dib.

"No way, I would never be friends with Zim." Dib almost shouted.

"Calm down. I was just making an observation." Sally said.

"Right, sorry." He said.

Suddenly all of the lights shut off.

"The power hardly ever goes out." Dib said.

"Well it is storming." Alex said.

"Yeah but storms don't knock out the power here." He answered looking around.

"Then maybe it's Zim's next plan, knock out all power." Sally answered.

"That is a distinct possibility." He agreed.

"Taking out the power? What will that do?" Alex asked.

"A world of people who are this dependant on technology will die because they don't know how to live without electricity. Almost everything runs off it." Sally explained.

"Right." Alex said.

"How did you not realize that?" Dib asked.

"In our world, many did depend on technology and electricity, but Alex and I, well we weren't really in one place long enough to need it. We spent much of our time in the wilderness so it's hard for us to comprehend not surviving without technology." Sally explained over their fellow classmates freaking out.

"This actually could work very well to Zim's advantage. Many will die if the power is off for too long." Dib said.

"Yes." Sally agreed.

"I don't think that's his plan. He wants the humans to surrender to him; they'd sooner do that then die. But we do need to stop him regardless of his intentions." Alex said.

"Yeah. It should be easy to sneak out. I guess the problem would be to find Zim." Sally said. The three got up and walked right out of the building. No one stopped them but that was probably because people were trying to figure out how to get the power back on. It didn't help that a dark storm was raging outside, but that was likely part of the plan as well, it would be darker. It was supposed to storm for at least the rest of the week.

When they went outside it was fairly easy to find Zim. To their right towards the beach was a pod-looking ship with four legs and a long tube that went down into the water and connected to the power source that was under the Earth's crust under the water. It was very tall and all three of them wondered where Zim had the time and resources to build stuff like this.

"Can't you two just fly up there?" Dib asked.

"I can. Alex can't for another two days." Sally said.

"Why?" He asked.

"Got shot in the wing. But I can climb. Sally you and Dib see if you can break the connection of the tube or sever it from the main base." Alex said.

"As well as be a distraction since he knows we can fly he'll be expecting us to fly. If we can distract him then maybe he won't notice you climbing." Sally added.

"Okay then that too." She answered and the three raced down the street. They were glad that the beach wasn't too far from the schools but it still felt like it was taking forever. When they were a few blocks away from the beach Sally took Dib and they flew off while Alex kept running. She pulled a grappling hook from her backpack. Once it was at a good height and secure she let it reel itself in pulling her up.

_Alex, always prepared._ Sally thought as they flew.

Once she actually was able to put her feet on the pod-like ship she started to climb on her own.

What're they up to?" Zim asked watching Sally and Dib fly and make poor attacks on the tube that went into the water. He noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and looked at another monitor to see Alex climbing up the side of the ship.

Why isn't she flying?" He asked.

"She has a booboo." Gir said randomly, or was it really that random?

Zim took a closer look and studied her movements, her right shoulder and behind seemed to be causing her pain. She was indeed hurt.

"These two girls are going to become a thorn in my side. Oh well, may as well go ahead and take care of that Alex girl before she makes her way here. Computer, continue to fire at that Dib-monkey and the flying girl Sally. They need to think that my attention is still on them so they're kept busy until I get back." Zim said getting up.

Alex continued to climb, completely oblivious to the fact that she had been spotted. The fire was still aimed at Sally and Dib so she figured that Zim had not yet noticed.

She realized that she was wrong when a door opened to her right and Zim stood there with an annoyed expression. She didn't want to admit it, but a twinge of fear actually formed when she saw his expression, how serious he really was and how dangerous he could be if she really got on his bad side. His problem, she reasoned, was that he was reckless and sort of cocky. If he was a little more rational and not so cocky then he would be a very dangerous enemy to have and she could see that, little by little, he was indeed becoming less reckless and more self-aware which was probably one of the reasons he was able to come up with this plan.

He fired a laser at the chord and she tried jumping out of the way so they didn't make contact but she wasn't fast enough and the laser broke the chord. There was nothing for her to grab onto so she came up with an idea, but before she fell even a foot, Zim had grabbed her right wrist. That caused strain to her shoulder and she yelped in pain. He pulled her up and into the ship and the door closed behind them.

"Why didn't you just let me fall?" Alex asked bewildered.

"I am not an idiot. I know that you were going to open your wings at the last minute so you wouldn't actually die. You may be hurt but I doubt you are injured enough not to save yourself at the last minute." He said simply. He still had a hold of her wrist and she tried to jerk it away but his grip did not waver. For a skinny guy he was strong, although she couldn't say much since she was very skinny herself and had been modified to be strong as well. His species had likely evolved to survive while she had been modified to survive.

"Let go of me." She snapped.

"So you can escape and help your friend and that Dib-monkey? I think not. Walk this way." He said and started walking and pulling her with him.

"As if I have a choice." She muttered and walked because it was either walk or be dragged by him.

They went through a labyrinth of halls and down an elevator sort of thing.

"How did you build this so quickly?" She asked.

"Irken technology is very fast at building itself when you have the plans for the structure." He said simply. She didn't exactly understand since technology was not her forte but she didn't reply all the same.

"Wouldn't your own race likely die without technology and electricity?" She asked to break the silence.

"No, our technology runs on another form of electricity." He said.

"I don't understand how there is another form of electricity so I'll just take your word for it and stop trying to understand." Alex answered.

"Good, you're voice was getting annoying." He said in a grim tone.

"You're annoying." Alex muttered. How on Earth Sally could possibly think that Alex would like Zim was out of Alex's comprehension, she didn't think there as any way they could like each other, they'd be arguing a lot the way they were now being small but random and spurts of irritation.

"You dare call me annoying?" He questioned. Alex giggled, she still found his being so dramatic funny, she didn't it would ever be not funny.

"Silence! You're amusement is becoming an extreme irritation." He hissed dangerously. It was hard to get Alex to shut up, but that certainly did the trick. He could be really scary when he wanted to be.

After a long pause of silence she said, "Damn Zim, you can be scary when you want to be. You actually got me to shut up."

"Silence!" He snapped.


	6. Chapter 6: Storms and Destruction

Chapter 6 Storms and Destruction 

"I don't see Alex anymore. Do you think she got in?" Dib asked while looking through a pair of binoculars where Alex had been climbing and noticed something odd. He programmed them to get a closer look and could see that the chord had been cut.

"That's not good." He said.

"What?" Sally asked firing an electric charge at the tube.

"The chord had been cut. Did she fall?" He asked.

Sally took a look down and around and said, "No, she must be inside. He must have seen her and is keeping her there so she can't help us."

"Well what we're doing is not helping at all, and I suspect that even if we were actually trying it wouldn't do anything so we probably need to shut it down from the inside of the ship." Dib said.

"My sentiments exactly." Sally answered and flew above the ship and landed on the top. There was a door there but it was tightly sealed.

"Maybe we can get it to shoot itself. just destroy the thing." Dib said.

"Alex might be in there." Sally argued.

"But we don't know that." Dib argued.

Sally thought about it but before responding a screen appeared before them and Zim's face appeared on the screen in what appeared to be the control room.

"I know you're deciding on weather or not to have me just try and shoot you and destroy the ship, but I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see you're friend Alex is indeed on this ship. In fact she's right here with me." He said simply.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Dib demanded.

He stepped to the side to show them Alex with her wrists stuck behind her back with strong, but odd-looking restraints. Her ankles were restrained to the legs of the chair with similar restraints.

"What the hell are you doing Alex?" Sally asked, it was rare for Alex to get caught by anything or anyone.

"Eh, you know just sitting around annoying Zim cause it's fun." She said with a shrug. Sally rolled her eyes.

_Of course she'd be the one to have fun with bugging someone who's holding her hostage._ Sally thought.

"So we need another plan." Sally concluded.

"Why? There's a small change that she could get hurt." Dib said.

"I'm not taking a chance. She's my best friend and she can't fly out like that." Sally said simply indicating Alex on the screen.

"You stupid smart people don't plan when we can hear you." Alex called from the back of the room.

"Silence!" Zim said in his dramatic way that always seemed to make Alex laugh. The screen went black and went back into the ship.

"Maybe we should just leave Alex with him, she could annoy him to death, or at least to his own destruction." Sally said to lighten the mood.

"Stop laughing!" Zim said to Alex.

"I can't the way you are overdramatic when you say stuff is funny." She said.

"Silence!" He hissed at her and she shut up for a little bit but then said, "You know you should really use that scariness to your advantage. You would look so awesome if you had some kind of weapon in your hand while using that scary side. Oh you would look so badass."

He pointed some sort of gun in her face and had a serious and slightly angry expression.

"Like this?" He asked dangerously.

"Uh, yeah like that." She answered.

I will not let any of you ruin my plans. I have gone through too much to fail at the hands of two bird-girls and a pitiful human." He said with a completely straight face. Normally if he said that it would be overly dramatic and she would have laughed but he was so serious that all she could do was sit there with her usual expressionless look that she always used back at the school to hide her emotions.

"What you're doing is wrong. Cutting off all power, knowing these people are so dependant on it that they would give up anything to get it back, you're going to get them to enslave themselves aren't you?" She asked.

"Fairly smart girl, and yes that is my plan and it will not fail. It's taken me a while to make sure that this plan will not be thwarted and I'm not about to let anyone do so." He said and turned back to he controls.

"I bet you would think twice about doing this if you knew what it was like to loose your freedom." She said simply.

"And you wouldn't think twice about if you knew what it was like to have something that you needed to prove." He responded.

"I know what it's like to try and prove to others your worth. But this is not the way to prove to your leaders your worth. Taking away someone's free will is worse than death itself." She said.

"How would you know something like that? Did you know someone who had lost free will? I doubt it." Zim demanded.

"I just know okay?" She snapped.

There was a bang as the door swung open and hit the wall. Zim had whirled around to face them Dib knocked him to the ground. Sally went over to Alex and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah fine, not like he'd hurt me, just wanted me out of the way so I couldn't help you two." Alex said with a shrug.

"Definitely wanted to make sure you couldn't get away then hu? These things are strong." She commented,

"Yeah, I've tried to break them already, not even any kind of strain." Alex answered.

"Well since the boys are busy, I guess I can use my own strength to break it." Sally said and turned another dial on her watch to release more of her power and focused on the restraints. They shattered and pieces flew everywhere like shrapnel. Luckily no one got hit. Sally switched the dial back so the power was sealed again. Alex got up and rubbed her wrists. The two watched the boys roll around and try and land blows on each other but they both had been fighting each other for so long they could guess the other's next move for the most part. Alex walked over to a switch and pushed it up but it was either stuck or she wasn't strong enough.

"Sally help me with this." She said but Sally was already next to her. They both gripped the handle and pushed the lever. They both fell forward but they at least managed to move the lever and restore the power. Alex sat up with the handle in her hands to find that it was now broke.

"Whoops." She said.

"Fools! Do you know what you've done?" Zim demanded.

"Break the handle?" Alex asked.

"No. Not only does that specific switch restore power but it also initiate the self destruct sequence for this entire structure!" He snapped.

"That's dumb." She and Sally said in unison.

"Silence!" He said dramatically. Alex cracked a smile.

"Who cares, what we need to do is get the hell out of here." Dib said.

"Can you fly?" Sally asked Alex.

"Of course I can. I'll be fine." Alex answered. Sally wasn't so sure but she didn't know what else to do. It was one thing flying while carrying one other person; it was another carrying two people despite the fact that Alex was very light.

Dib and Gir were already gone and Sally flew out with Dib. Alex opened her wings and jumped out as well but the hurt wing was not going to let her fly the way she wanted to. She had trouble with direction but at least she was falling, just awkwardly flying. She could see Sally and Dib land on the beach and Zim land at the top of the cliff watching the structure as it completely self destructed. Alex had not gotten completely out o the blast rang and was thrown forward from the force of it. She felt a searing heat on her wings and her ears hurt. She was dizzy and disoriented and knew she was falling.

Sally could see Alex falling and some parts of her wings had caught fire. She immediately took of to catch her but Zim had beaten her to it. He caught her and flew to the beach and laid her on the sand. The rain quickly put out the flames on her feathers.

"Alex? Alex you okay?" Sally asked looking down at her. Alex opened her eyes but could hear nothing. She just stared blankly at them as she slowly sat up. No one seemed bothered by the fact that it was storming all around them and flaming pieces of metal flew from the sky. Well except for Zim but that was only because water hurt him and he had an umbrella over his head anyway.

"Alex, are you okay?" Sally asked again. Alex only got part of what she said from lip reading but she was able to get what she was saying just by the worried look on her face.

"I can't hear." Alex said, a little loudly. Zim left with Gir without a word, which Dib and Sally found odd, he always said something about how he had not failed.

Alex just sat there with a blank look for about ten minutes and that was how long it took for her to regain her hearing and when she did she also noticed how much her ears hurt, and her wings and shoulder.

"That was in no way fun. How did I end up on the beach anyway? Did you catch me Sally?" Alex asked.

"Um no. Zim beat me to it." Sally answered.

"Zim? Why?" Alex asked.

"You're really asking us?" Dib asked.

"We don't know any more than you do." Sally said shrugging. Alex shrugged and looked around saying, "Storms and destruction, they go well together don't they?"


	7. Chapter 7: Valentine's Day and Trouble

Chapter 7 Valentine's Day and Trouble

"Damn, a whole month already. It's so surreal, like a dream." Sally said as they walked to school since their apartment was in walking distance.

"Yeah we've actually fallen into our own routines." Alex agreed.

"I actually like this a lot. I was never sure if I would like doing almost the same stuff everyday but I really like it." She added.

"Maybe it's because it's something we've never had. You know an average daily routine since I don't think flying with your very own wings is exactly considered average and normal." Alex answered.

_"Sally."_

"Yeah?" Sally asked.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Did you say my name?" She asked.

"No. You heard someone say your name?" Alex asked.

"I thought I did. Maybe I'm just hearing things." She answered but wasn't so sure. Her mind wandered back to the portal she had seen. She wondered if her brother had found her.

"Maybe." Alex agreed but she could tell by Sally's expression that she wasn't so sure. They went to their lockers, headed to class and took their seats.

Alex pulled out a notebook that she wrote her own original music in and started scribbling down lyrics for a new song. She was fairly proud of her handwriting; it was pretty much completely impossible to read and she found it funny when others tried to read it.

Sally read through a random book until class started, or at least until Dib showed up. Then she put her book down and started talking to him about astronomy.

"Alright, I don't have anything planned today so go ahead and give out your meat for Valentines Day." Ms. Bitters.

"Meat?" Alex and Sally asked in unison.

"You didn't do meat back home?" Dib asked.

They shook their heads.

"No, they did things like chocolate cards and flowers and stuff. We never really actually participated in it ourselves but in the country we had first met they had two other holidays that went along with Valentines Day." Sally explained.

"Cool." Dib commented.

After class Alex and Sally hung around while everyone headed to lunch.

"You remembered them right?" Sally asked her. Alex nodded and pulled out two packages from her bag she put one in Zim's and Sally put the other in Dib's locker. The packages had some chocolate and cards from both of them. They headed to lunch and sat at their normal table outside.

"What's bothering you?" Alex asked Sally.

"Hu? Nothing why do you ask?" Sally asked.

"Maybe because when you aren't directly talking to someone you zone out like you do when there's something on your mind. Something that always turns into something very important." Alex said.

"We may have only known each other two years now, but we already know each other this well. Either that is a very good thing or a dangerous thing." Sally answered but said nothing for a few minutes and said, "I just can't get this morning out of my head. Everytime before when I heard my name being called but no one else heard it, it was my dad or my brother because they knew where I was. I was, in our sense, in earshot of one of them."

"You think they found you again?" Alex asked.

"I hope not but that's what it seems like." She answered.

"Don't worry. They won't." Alex said.

"I hope you're right," She answered but she knew her dad and her brother. Her brother wanted to be just like their dad and would do anything he said, including hunt down his sister but he wasn't the only one her dad had sent but Sally has yet to actually have a run in with anyone else. She was terrified of the idea of going back to Hell where she grew up; she wasn't like the others who were from there. She had a conscience and hated it there.

"You haven't been caught yet and you have me by your side now." Alex said.

"Yeah, you're right, I guess I'm just being paranoid since we've never really gone this long without being attacked by something. Sometimes I wish we could have just been born normal." Sally said.

"I can't tell you how many times I've imagined that. No wings, just growing up with normal problems. But I wonder if you were born normal, where would you have been born." Alex said.

"I don't, I don't know where mom came from." She said with a shrug.

"Well I am thoroughly depressed for the day let's change the subject from our past problems that will likely come back and bite us in the ass at some point down the road of our lives." Alex said.

"Way to bring happiness to the mood." Sally said with thumbs up.

"Hey sometimes I can be more pessimistic than even you." Alex said shrugging.

"Touché." She answered.

They headed to the rest of their classes in their own direction and met at their lockers after class. Alex seemed giddy when she went to her locker and that freaked Sally out so she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Me? Yeah I'm fine why do you ask?" She asked.

"You seem…giddy." Sally said.

"Oh I do?" Alex asked and Sally noticed a light blush cross her face.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Oh, um nothing." Alex said.

"Liar. What's that you're hiding?" Sally asked walking over to stand next to her. She noticed that Dib and Zim were still there but she didn't care.

"Nothing, just a good Chorus practice." Alex said.

"Hi Alex are you free at six?" A boy asked her, stopping when he walked by.

"Yeah six is good." Alex said to him. Sally had to admit the guy was hot and he didn't seem too stupid either. He walked away.

"A very good Chorus practice it seems. Who was that?" Sally asked.

"Um, that was Ted. He's in Chorus with me and he asked me to go see a movie with him Friday." Alex said.

"Do you like him?" Sally asked.

"I don't know if I'd say like, I'd say attracted to." Alex said.

"Let me guess, you heard him sing and he's good?" She asked.

"Oh my gosh he has the most amazing tenor voice I have ever heard, granted I haven't had much chance to but his voice gives me chills everytime I hear him sing." Alex said all giddy.

"You're not going to faint are you? Because if you do I will be forced to punch you in the face for acting like a stupid giggly girl." Sally said bluntly.

Alex was quiet for a second, thinking about it and said, "Oh my gosh I do sound like one. Oh damn, there is something seriously wrong with that. Ew someone slap me or something."

"Is that a serious request?" Zim asked.

"If how I was just now acting put the same feeling of wanting to stab pins into your eyes the way it did me then go ahead." Alex said.

"No it just made me want to hit you to get you to shut up." He said.

"It gave me a disgusting taste in my mouth and want to hit babies." Sally said.

"That's horrible." Alex said. Sally shrugged and said, "That's how I felt, guess it's because I know you better. Anyways we should get home."

"Yeah, see you two tomorrow. Happy Valentine's day." Alex and Sally said the second part in unison and headed off.

After they were gone Dib and Zim actually opened their lockers and noticed the packages.

"What the hell?" They both asked in unison and glared at each other.

"Who would dare to go into Zim's locker?" Zim demanded.

"Did someone leave a package in your locker too?" Dib asked showing him the package with two cards stuck to it. Zim had a similar one to it.

"Who would give us something?" Dib asked and they both said in unison. "Sally and Alex." They glared at each other again and stuffed the packages in their bags and went their separate ways.

"So do you think they'll keep them?" Alex asked.

"Who? Keep what?" Sally asked.

"Zim and Dib, the Valentine's gifts." Alex said.

"I don't know." She said with a shrug.

"I wish those two could get along. Their fighting can be entertaining but the would make an awesome team if they worked together and were friends." Alex said.

"They could make a really great team if they actually could get along but I guess if they haven't been able to the past six years they won't ever get along." Sally agreed.

"Even though they are both alike in many ways." She said.

"Yeah. Although I guess the world couldn't handle it if those two were friends. If they even thought about it, they could very likely take over the world together with great ease. Of course that wouldn't happen because they rarely actually get along." She said shrugging.

"Yup." Alex agreed as they went into their apartment and were greeted with a, "Hello Alex, nice to see you again. Hello little sister. How've you been keeping?"


	8. Chapter 8: Sally's Demon Brother

Chapter 8 Sally's Demon Brother

"Dev?" Sally asked and flipped the light on. Her brother was indeed there, sitting on their futon. He had the same blonde hair and red eyes as Sally. He was very alike to their father, the only difference that most said was the blonde hair while Sally was very alike in looks to their mother besides her eyes.

"Surprised?" He asked lounging on the futon as if he lived there giving both girls a thoughtful stare as if he were trying to figure out what to think of them.

"A little." She admitted.

"Well you don't have to worry about me. I'm not here to take you home…yet. I'm here to observe, find out why it is that you prefer the surface world to home." He said standing up. He stood at about six feet so he was at least a head taller than both of them, not that that bothered Alex, she'd fought mutated men who were a good eight feet or so when they were morphed, but she also knew that he was powerful in other ways.

"Then how about you just go home and let me live my life the way I want to." Sally suggested coldly. She was being cold and hard to hide her fear.

"You can't keep running from your family or who you are." He said.

"I can try now get out." She said harshly.

"Aw but I wanted to spend some brother-sister time. Just like we use to." He said appearing behind her and rested an arm on her head. She pushed him away forcefully and he stumbled back into the wall.

"Stay away from me. Get out of our apartment before I see to it that you never return home alive." Sally said darkly, her demonic side forcing itself out. She had a long staff in her hands and used it to keep distance between them.

"Aw, you don't want to bond with your brother?" He asked.

"I'd rather inject myself with gasoline then bond with you. Get. Out. Go home and leave me alone." She said.

"Wow, that would hurt." Alex muttered. She had to say something to break the tension before it suffocated her.

"How about you Alex? Would you like to bond with me?" He asked appearing next to her.

"As I recall last time we "bonded" you caused an earthquake which then had a chain reaction with a tsunami and nuclear reactors to explode in Japan. So that would be a no."

"I believe the reactors was your fault, you really should learn to control your anger before you cause something dangerous here to overheat." He countered. Alex threw a punch at him but he dodged it and grabbed her fist and twisted her arm behind her back.

"You really shouldn't let someone like me bait you, if you give into your anger you'll just cause problems." He said. This was all just in fun for him.

"Can't help but be angry around you, you're just the perfect person to hate." Alex responded.

"You just can't ever shut up can you? You just have to open your mouth and say something smart aleck, you should really learn your place mutant freak." He countered.

"Dev, leave Alex alone and get out. We don't want you here." Sally snapped and yanked her brother away from Alex by his wings.

"Fine. I just wanted to let you two know that I'll be…around." He said and left.

"I hate him." The two said in unison.

"Who doesn't once they meet him?" Alex asked.

"A lot of people actually, he is a very…. charming person when he has something up his sleeve, I suppose since you already knew what and who I was by the time he met you he didn't feel the need to put up an act. But it really puts me on edge that he's here and not trying to kill us immediately. He has something planned and I think I may know what." Sally said.

"You aren't thinking that he'll consider teaming up with Zim and helping are you?" Alex asked.

"Yes. I doubt he will actually be on Zim's side, just help him enough to gain his trust." Sally said.

"Wonder if Zim will actually accept his help." Alex said.

"Who knows, but Dev can be very persuasive. We're half demon, he worships our dad he knows how to talk people into doing what he wants." She said.

"You know how to do that too." Alex pointed out.

"That's not the point. He uses it religiously as well as the rest of his abilities, I don't. The point is he can easily talk Zim into letting him join him." Sally said.

"But Zim isn't that stupid, he only gets help when he really needs it and he seems to prefer to work on his plans with just him and Gir. There's no way he'd want help from someone from Earth." Alex said.

"He's not from Earth, he's from Hell. The three parts are very different from each other. Heaven and Hell can affect the humans on Earth, or each other but unless the Earth is being destroyed then they aren't affected so if all humans are wiped out, it doesn't matter to us. So Heaven and Hell are more like their own worlds that can mess with Earth and so on." Sally explained.

"Ow, my head hurts." Alex said.

"Some people do find these things hard to understand." Sally said simply and sat on a stool at the small table in the kitchen.

"So to get our minds off of the demon-child who just left. Are you excited for your very first date?" Sally asked Alex.

"That is your brilliant conversation topic?" Alex asked.

"Yes. So do you like this guy? Are you excited? I thought you liked Zim." She said.

"I don't know. I guess so and will you stop saying that?" Alex answered.

"You guess you're excited? What does that mean?" Sally asked.

"I don't know, he's cute and his singing gives me chills but I don't know him very well besides that. He makes me nervous and I can't determine if its in a good way or not." Alex explained.

"Hm, maybe it's because you're just not use to this stuff yet." Sally said and added, "And no I will not stop saying that until I know for a fact that you do not like him."

"I've told you I don't." Alex said as if that should be enough for Sally.

"Not good enough." She said and thought of something, "Hm. I wonder if he likes you. I did find it odd that he saved you last month."

"That was probably just some split decision he had made." Alex said simply.

"Hm…I don't know. I noticed a look on his face when Ted was talking to you." Sally said.

"What look?" Alex asked skeptically.

"Angry, like jealousy. I'm betting that he likes you." Sally said. Alex rolled her eyes and said, "Probably irritated that he had blocked his locker or something. And besides why are you trying to make up stuff about Zim and me supposedly liking each other? You should think more about you and Dib."

"What do you mean?" Sally asked.

"Oh please don't play dumb. You two have spent a lot of time together even though you're done with your project that is due tomorrow." Alex said.

"Yeah I consider him a friend." Sally said. Alex gave her a look that clearly said, 'don't lie to me.'

"What? We're friends." Sally said.

Alex kept her look and stared Sally down with it.

"Okay, okay so maybe I might like him a little bit." Sally said.

"What do you two do when you run off with him anyways?" Alex asked.

"Mostly just talking. He's shown me around town and some of the coolest places and he even showed me Tak's ship." Sally said.

"Tak?" Alex asked.

"Oh, um a female Irken who had come to take Zim's mission and Dib salvaged her ship and fixed it, well Gaz finished it." She explained.

"Okay then." Alex answered and asked, "So he still doesn't know too much does he?"

"Are you kidding? He's freak if he knew. No I'm going to make sure he never finds out. He'd either try to take me to paranormal experts or just freak out and never speak to me again." Sally said simply.

"You don't know that for sure." She argued.

"Right any rational person wouldn't freak our or run away in fear when they hear this, "By the way my dad is ruler of Hell and my mother is one of the most evil witches of all time but don't worry I may possess similar abilities of both I am the only one who isn't insane and evil." Yeah whoever hears that would not believe me and probably run away in fear when I would prove it." Sally said.

"I guess you have a point but if, assuming you ever do, tell him, it could be told a little more delicately." Alex said.

"I know but I don't need to worry about that because he won't find out." She said stiffly.

"And what if your brother tries to meet him?" Alex asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well assuming he found out that you like someone so, being your brother and being, well evil, he'll do anything he can to ruin it so he finds out about Dib's paranormal and supernatural obsession he will not hesitate to try and act like an older brother to meet him and the minute he gets the chance he'll do something to give you away." Alex explained.

"Right…Then Dev won't find out that I maybe like Dib a little." Sally said.

"Maybe like him a little? You're so weird." Alex said rolling her eyes.

Sally shrugged and said, "So are you."


	9. Chapter 9: An Awkward Day

Chapter 9 An Awkward Day

"Do you think we shouldn't have given them anything, just give them meat instead?" Sally asked.

"Why do you ask?" Alex asked.

"Because they're both completely avoiding us." She answered.

"Really? I haven't noticed." Alex answered with a shrug.

"Or at least they're both distracted." She said.

Alex looked at both of them. Both were buried in their own work. Zim was scribbling something on paper and Dib was buried in a book.

"I would say the same thing, but why don't we wait until the end of the day to make any conclusions." Alex answered.

She shrugged and said, "Fair enough."

They went through the day like usual. They never really talked to Zim or Dib during the first half of the day because Ms. Bitters would likely snap at them or something. Regardless Alex and Sally both felt an awkward vibe coming from the two and it was suffocating them. They hated awkward vibes.

By lunchtime Dib and Zim jumped up just as fast as Sally and Alex to get out of the room. All four seemed to notice the vibes and didn't like it. Just as well all four experienced a blood rush and had to sit back down until they were okay again.

"Seems we all felt the awkward vibe and wanted to escape it." Alex said. Of course she would be the one to be blunt about it.

Zim and Dib said nothing.

"What's with you two today? You aren't even arguing or anything like that and you're radiating an awkward vibe towards us. Was it because of the cards and chocolate? Was it bad and you just don't want to tell us?" Sally asked.

"No, that's not it." Dib said.

"Then what is it?" Alex asked.

"It just different." Dib answered.

"Different?" Sally asked, "What do you mean? Like since you've been use to meat verses cards and candy? Or was it because we both had put in our own message for both of you?"

"I guess both, well for me at least." Dib answered.

Zim didn't say a word, he just got back up, more slowly this time, and left.

"Guess he just didn't like it." Alex said. Anyone who didn't know Alex, wouldn't be able to tell a difference in the tone of voice when she said anything, but Sally could at least hear a little it of sadness in her voice. She was sure that Alex at least wanted to be friends with Zim.

Alex and Sally headed to their lunch table outside. The clouds were grey and seemed to cast sadness and despair on everyone.

"Looks like it's going to rain soon." A kid named Keith said nearby.

Once they sat down Sally said, "Alex, it's not the end of the world if Zim didn't like it."

"Hu? Oh I know." She answered. Alex had been staring off into space.

"Then why are the clouds grey and depressing?" She asked her. Sally knew all too well about the one supernatural ability that set her apart from five or six other kids that were like her in their previous dimension. Sally had made the mistake of angering Alex and was nearly struck by lightning because of it. Alex's emotions had a strong effect on the weather, bad emotions equaled bad weather and if she was mad at you, then you would likely nearly, or would, get struck by lightning. It didn't seem to have killed anyone yet, but they sure did get the message.

"I'm not doing that. Sure I'm kind of sad that what we gave him he may not have liked and he probably wouldn't want to be friends but things like that happen, I'm not going to let it get me down. This is just the weather today." Alex explained.

Sally shrugged and slid her tray over to Alex. Another reason for them eating outside was so no one noticed that Sally rarely ate and Alex always ate Sally's food as well as her own. Sally didn't need much food, the only reason she really ate was because she was living among those who needed food so she slowly started to need a little bit herself while Alex needed about 8,000 calories a day.

Sally could still feel the awkward vibes from Dib and Zim both but at least Dib talked to her, not that Zim ever talked to anyone during school much anyways.

Alex was bored out of her mind. They had presentations for different methods on teaching certain subjects of theory, she had already presented and those who were now doing so were obviously uninterested in their own presentation so it did not help the rest of the students. The weather outside didn't help either, everyone seemed to be having problems and were depressed or upset about something. At least three people went to the guidance counselors because they were too upset about something to be in class and Alex was pretty sure it was like that in the rest of the school.

"Today sucks. Everyone is upset or depressed about something. I bet guidance was crazy busy today on listening to people's problems." Dib commented when they all went to their lockers.

"Yeah this day is just so depressing, it's like karma decided to screw everyone today in one day." Alex answered.

"You have the oddest way of saying things." Zim told her.

"I know." She answered with a smile. All three gave her a surprised expression. Dib and Zim have known both long enough to know that a genuine full smile was rare assuming they existed.

"Are you okay?" Sally asked.

"Yes." Alex answered and got what she needed and walked off.

"That was…" Zim said trying to find the right word.

"Weird? Scary?" Dib suggested.

"Yes." Zim answered and walked off as well.

"I think she was smiling because Zim had said something to her." Sally said.

"Why would she smile about that?" Dib asked.

"What you need to remember is that we are not taking sides in your rivalry. She wants to be friends with him." Sally said.

"Why? A month ago he had kidnapped her." Dib said.

"Not really kidnap, he was just keeping her out of the way so he could continue with his plan." She pointed out. He gave her a skeptical look that made her add, "Okay so I guess that would be considered kidnap but it's not like he hurt her. Actually he saved her remember? Maybe he likes her."

"Zim liking someone? Are you sure?" He asked skeptically.

"It could happen right? Just because he may have not liked anyone here before doesn't mean it couldn't happen." She said shrugging.

"Maybe she just has an odd influence on him." Dib said.

"That's one way to put it." Sally answered.

Meanwhile, Alex wandered through a neighborhood after dropping her school things at their apartment. She could see where she was going but it didn't actually process, she just walked around lost in space. The weather only seemed to get worse as the clouds grew darker and rain started to pour not that it bothered her she just kept walking.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed but she didn't even notice.

"Alex?" A voice asked. She blinked and turned around to see Zim standing at his door. She didn't realize where she had walked; she had just been wandering around.

"Hi." She said with a wave.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing out here during a storm? It's going to get worse." He asked leaning against the doorframe. Alex would never openly admit it, or at least to his face, but she did find Zim attractive, disguise or no.

"I suppose I am crazy, but storms don't bother me." She answered.

"You're also soaked, won't you get sick?" He asked.

"I suppose it's possible but I rarely get sick. I have a high immune system." She answered a bright flash of lightning lit up the sky at the same time as a loud clap of thunder sounded. It was so loud that they could feel it in their bones and knew something close by had been struck by lightning. A large tree branch fell right behind Alex where she had been standing seconds ago. She turned and looked at it without actually processing the fact that it could have landed on her, or at least it didn't for several seconds.

"Hm, that could have hurt if I had still be standing there." She said blankly.

"You are indeed crazy." Zim said.

"Most likely." She answered.

"Where do you live?" He asked.

"Hmm." She thought about it and said, "About a twenty minute walk from here I'd say since I'm not going to take the chance in flying."

"Come on I'll take you home in my ship." He said. Alex would be lying if she said that that didn't surprise her. Was he just being nice or was he just bored or soemthing?

"No thanks. Storms aren't good to fly through. Safer to walk." She answered.

"It's not safe to walk either. Not through a storm like this. You almost got squashed by a tree branch." He said.

"I'll be fine. It's not like it would matter to you anyways right? One less person to worry about ruining one of your plans if I did end up getting hurt to something like that." She said with a shrug.

"Just get in the house and let me fly you home!" He snapped.

"Alright, alright geez. Calm down. Why do you care anyways?" She asked walking down the path.

"I do not care personally for your safety. I simply find you mildly amusing." He said letting her in.

"…Well that's certainly the first time someone has told me that." She answered.


	10. Chapter 10: Gir the Wing Man

Chapter 10 Gir-the Wing Man

Special thanks to: My friend Katherine (Phantom of the Black Pearl) and my twin sister Vivian (VivieAnne) for helping me with ideas for this chapter

"Didn't Alex leave before we did?" Dib asked.

"Yeah." Sally answered.

"Shouldn't she be here? I mean it's really storming outside, it's not safe." He said.

"I know. She probably wandered around and didn't even notice that it was starting to storm. Now she's stuck out there. I'm going to go find her." Sally said getting up.

"It's not safe. I'm sure she'll be okay; it won't do her any good if you get hurt in the process of trying to find her." He said. Sally let out a sigh. He was right of course and she knew it but she didn't like just sitting around. She was sure Alex would be okay, she'd lived out on her own for a few years, she had to have been through powerful storms but they were best friends they would always worry about each other. She hoped that Alex was at least somewhere safe like a store or something like that.

"This is so cool!" Alex said looking around the ship.

"Don't touch anything!" Zim snapped.

"I haven't touched anything calm down." Alex argued.

"Lies!" He said dramatically, of course Alex laughed.

"Why do you always laugh when I say something?" He asked taking his seat.

"Not everytime you say something, just when you're really dramatic when you say a specific thing. The way you say it is funny." She answered.

"You are amused easily aren't you?" He asked.

"Not necessarily." She answered and added, "You aren't amused easily are you?"

"No not really, no." He answered and threw a switch but nothing happened.

"Was something supposed to happen?" Alex asked.

"Yes. Gir! What happened to the ship?" He demanded.

"I didn't know which wire to cut. The blue one or the red one so I cut them both! And then that thing 'sploded!" Gir said pointing at something that looked like an engine to Alex and as he said it, it did indeed explode...again.

"Gir! That was the power! Why would you do that? That'll take days to fix!" Zim said.

"It looked like a bomb." Gir responded.

Zim sighed and shook his head saying, "I knew I shouldn't have let you watch that movie about a bomb squad."

"Well I guess I'm walking." Alex said with a shrug.

"But you'd get all wet. I know you should stay here!" Gir said smiling.

"No that's okay I can walk."

"No that's okay she can walk." Zim said at the same time as Alex.

Gir proceeded to scream and cry hysterically.

"All right!" Zim shouted.

"What? I thought you were on my side in this!" Alex said to him.

Gir screamed and cried again and latched himself to her leg. Zim gave her a look that said, 'that is why I switched sides.'

"Fine! I guess it won't kill me to wait out the storm." Alex said, too tired to argue.

"Yay!" Gir said excitedly.

"Go on back into the house." Zim said waving his hand in a shooing motion and added, "Take Gir with you, I'm sure he'd love it if you ate his waffles."

Alex shrugged and said, "Okay." She turned to leave and behind her back Zim gave Gir a questioning look as to why he had suggested that Alex stay. Gir just smiled and gave Zim a thumbs up and followed Alex out.

"Do you guys have a phone?" Alex asked.

"Yes! It's right there." Gir pointed to a toaster.

"Gir, that's not a phone, that is a toaster." She said cracking a smile. Gir was just so cute.

"Oh yeah….oh! It's right there." Gir pointed to a phone that was sitting on top of a counter which Alex found odd but then she remembered whose house she was in and jumped up and managed to grab the phone. She dialed the number to her apartment and hopped that Sally was there since she didn't know Dib's number and she knew that's where she would likely be if not at home.

The phone rang and Sally ran to answer it.

"Alex?" Sally asked.

"Yeah it's me. Listen I'm okay so don't have a panic attack if you haven't already." Alex said.

"Where are you?" Sally asked.

"Zim's house." She answered.

"What? You're at Zim's? How did you end up there?" Sally asked.

"Zim's? She actually got into Zim's house? How?" Dib demanded. Sally pushed him away so she could hear Alex on the other line.

"I wandered around and he had tried to take me home in his ship but Gir sort of cut wires and blew stuff up and asked me to stay and we both said no that I could walk. Gir screamed and cried so Zim gave in and when I wouldn't he screamed and cried again and here I am staying here until the storm passes." Alex explained it in a nutshell.

"What if it lasts all night?" She asked.

"Then I will walk home." Alex answered.

"Or Gir will scream at you both until you agree." Sally said.

"Yeah or that. See you later." Alex answered and hung up.

"Guess who made waffles!" Gir said smiling and was piling waffles on the table.

"That's okay Gir I'm not really hungry-

Gir screamed hysterically.

"Okay, okay. I'll eat your waffles." Alex said and sat down with Gir and ate the waffles. They heard something explode above and Zim yelling in pain.

"You think he's okay?" Alex asked. Gir just shrugged.

"I'll go check." She said. Gir didn't scream or cry this time so she figured that he didn't care. What she didn't notice was Gir smiling when she left.

"Zim?" Alex called when she came up. She couldn't see anything because there was a lot of smoke. It seemed he did not have fire alarms. She was glad of that because then they would be blaring loudly.

"What?" Zim yelled back.

"You okay? We heard you yell. Do you need any help?" Alex called back and followed his voice. She ended up walking right into the ship and lost balance. A hand grabbed her wrist before she actually fell and pulled her so she could get back on balance.

"Thanks." She said.

"I'm fine and no I don't need help. I doubt you could anyways." He said from inside the ship and let out another yell of pain.

"You don't sound okay to me. Why don't you take a break and eat some waffles with us?" She suggested.

"No! Those things make me sick." He snapped.

"Okay then what do you like to eat?" Alex asked.

"You don't know anything about Irken food." He responded. The smoke started to clear but Alex still had trouble seeing.

"Then at least come out of there until the smoke clears." She snapped.

"Will you stop bugging me if I do?" He demanded.

"Yes." She said exasperatedly.

"Fine." He said and came out. They walked back down to the lower level both smelling strongly of smoke.

"You sploded!" Gir said seeing them.

"No we didn't Gir." Zim answered.

"Although we do smell strongly of smoke." Alex said.

"You look like you need waffles master!" Gir said.

"No Gir. I don't need waffles." Zim said simply.

Gir had a sad look on his face as if he were about to cry.

"It's okay Gir, I'll eat your waffles. I like them." Alex said.

"Yay!" Gir cheered.

"Didn't you already eat some of his waffles?" Zim asked.

"Yes. What's your point? I like his waffles they're good." Alex answered, not mentioning the fact that she was hungry because she hadn't eaten since lunchtime at school and needing the amount of food that she did, She was hungry most of the time. Sally often told her that she ate like an army of teenage boys. That was definitely an exaggeration but Alex knew she ate a lot of food. She needed it and she didn't fully understand why Sally didn't need a lot of food even after she had explained it. Alex had decided to just accept it and move on.

Zim shrugged and went to the sink to wash his hands. He winced when the water touched his hand. It looked like one of his gloves had been charred and it reached up to right above his elbow.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Of course I am." He snapped.

"Okay, just wondering you don't have to be so snappy." She said with a shrug.

"I don't need your concern." He said.

"Okay." She said with a shrug.

Zim left the room going back up, probably to check the ship again. Alex rolled her eyes thinking, _He's very stubborn._

"More waffles!" Gir said. Alex smiled and ate a few more waffles. Gir ran around in circles and ran into the next room. Alex finished the waffles and wandered into the living room where Gir was watching TV about a game that, to them was very old, Twister.

"Wow, Twister." Alex commented.

"Let's play!" Gir said excitedly.


	11. Chapter 11: Twister With a Twist

Chapter 11 Twister

Special thanks to Katherine for helping me on this chapter!

Gir pulled out the game Twister. It was apparently popular again after a very long time. At first Alex wasn't sure if she wanted to play, but of course Gir managed to convince her by latching himself to her arm and begging.

"Okay, I'll play." Alex said and helped Gir pull out the mat.

Gir was very hyper and had a hard time staying still and when Zim walked in he had a major outburst.

"Gir, left hand yellow." Alex repeated.

"Okay!" Gir said and did as she said while she did the same. Alex did not understand how Gir managed to play this game but he seemed to be doing just fine for such a small robot.

"What the?" Zim asked watching them, having no idea what they were doing. He guessed that it was some kind of game.

"Weee!" He screamed and slipped and fell.

"Guess I win." Alex said but not before Gir ended up knocking one of her legs off balance ad she crashed to the floor as well. She managed to sort of roll so that she didn't fall on Gir. She and Gir both laughed and just lay there on the mat for a few seconds.

Alex got up and noticed that Zim was there. What she didn't notice was that he wasn't wearing magenta tunic.

"You know you're really stubborn. You got hurt at least twice and yet you still went back up to the ship." She said and helped Gir up and put the mat away.

"What were you two doing?" He asked.

"Playing Twister!" Gir responded.

"Twister?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's an old game, well very old for this dimension, but it seems to be popular again. But I've never played it before until now." Alex explained.

"Where did you get it?" He asked, directing the question to Gir. Gir pointed at the TV. Zim sighed and pulled a face-palm and said, "I really shouldn't let you watch so much TV Gir."

"No! No! Don't take me from the TV I NEED it!" Gir proceeded to scream and was then distracted by something and was calm once again.

"It's just a game. All in fun." Alex said shrugging and finally looked at him after she put the game back in it's box. His arm was bandaged, as was half of his torso. She noticed that his arm was bleeding and he was also bleeding near his hip on his left side and spot around his ribs under his arm on the right side. She fought back a blush and asked, "Did you take care of your wounds properly?"

"Of course I did." He said. He did notice that he was walking around shirtless with her there but she didn't seem embarrassed to him so she probably didn't care.

"Somebody needs a hug!" Gir jumped up and hugged Zim a little too tightly, causing him to hiss in pain.

Gir get off me!" He yelled.

"Come on Gir. You should get off him before you really hurt him." Alex said and gently lifted Gir off him and Gir wrapped his arms around Alex instead.

"You might want to change those bandages, you're still bleeding a little bit. And I don't really know about healing wounds I just do what I think is best but I wouldn't recommend moving too much unless you want them to reopen." Alex said to him.

"I know that." Zim snapped and walked out of the room. Alex just shrugged and sat on the couch Zim seemed to be sort of bipolar to Alex but for some odd reason she didn't mind it. It was pretty funny in her opinion and she found it entertaining

Gir curled up into a ball on her lap. She inwardly smiled. Gir was so adorable and funny with how random he was. She couldn't wait for Gir to bug Zim with the song she had taught him.

Zim changed the bandages and put a new tunic on. He became lost in thought, noticing odd feelings stirring inside. He knew it had to do with Alex but he wasn't really sure exactly what these feelings were yet. He decided to wait until after she was gone before thinking more about it.

He went back into the living room to see Gir curled up on her lap.

"Is he bothering you?" Zim asked her.

"Hu?" Alex asked. She had obviously been zoned out and what Zim had asked took a few seconds to register.

"Oh no he's not bothering me, he's too cute I don't see how you can yell at him so much without feeling bad." She said.

"After six Earth years he tends to become annoying. I don't understand how you find him cute. You'd just have to live with him, then you would understand." Zim answered with an exasperated sigh. Alex just shrugged and jumped, surprised when Gir jumped up and started running around like a maniac.

"I think he is just too cute to think that he could be that bad." She commented while watching him. Gir jumped and tackled Alex on the couch.

"Gir get off me." Alex said with a laugh.

"Not until you say please!" Gir said.

"Please get off of me Gir." Alex said.

"Okay!" He said with a big grin and jumped off the couch, leaving her lying there. She stared up at the ceiling and said, "See? How can you not love that little guy?"

"You just have to live with him to know." Zim said standing next to the couch. Gir jumped on him and stood on his chest and latched himself to Zim's face and said, "Let's make biscuits!"

"No Gir. Enough with the biscuits!" Zim said and swatted at Gir to get him off. He managed to get Gir off him and Gir ran off, but Zim had fallen off balance and tripped on the leg of the couch and fell. He caught himself by catching the back of the couch and his other hand supported him on the left side of Alex's head. They both looked into each other's eyes, surprised.

_His eyes are so awesome._ Alex thought while trying to force a blush from crossing her face but she failed. She noticed that Zim was blushing a little bit as well.

"See what I mean? It's hard to live with him." Zim said waving in the general direction that Gir had gone. Alex giggled a little.

"Why do you keep laughing?" He asked.

"Why do you say things that are funny?" She countered.

He didn't make a move to get off so Alex pushed him off and quickly sat up blushing. Zim yelled in pain as he hit the floor.

"Oh shit. I'm so sorry." She said and helped him sit on the couch.

"Ow." He muttered rubbing his arm.

"Sorry." She said again.

"It's okay." He answered sitting next to her.

She looked out the window. The storm seemed to be stronger than it was a few hours ago. She checked the time on her watch. It was now midnight.

"Damn it's later than I thought." She said.

"You and Gir had been playing that game for about two hours." Zim said as if that were to explain the fact that she had gotten there around eight. She had no idea where the other two hours had gone.

"Yeah. I should go before it gets any later." She said getting up.

"That really isn't safe. It's late and the storm has gotten stronger. Even walking isn't safe at all." Zim said.

"I've walked through worse storms." Alex answered.

"NOOOO!" Gir screamed and came out of nowhere and latched himself to Alex's head and caused her to fall back onto the couch.

"Gir! Please get off me." Alex wined.

"Only if you stay until morning!" Gir said.

"I need to get home." Alex said causing Gir to scream right in her ear. Alex gave Zim a pleading look to get Gir to calm down.

"Sorry I can't help." He said with a shrug. She shot him a glare and said, "Alright, alright."

"Yay!" He said and jumped off of her head.

"Guess you're staying until morning." Zim said.

"Seems so." She answered.

"So does Sally know you're here?" He asked.

"Yes, she would have stormed the town if she didn't know." Alex answered.

"Why are you two always so worried and protective of each other?" He asked.

"Because we are very close friends and know everything about the other. We know that the other is a danger magnet." Alex explained.

"But you two also know that the other can take care of yourselves right?" He asked.

"Well yeah but like I said, we know everything about each other." She added.

"So there is more to you than meets the eye." He concluded.

"There is more to most of us than meets the eye. I'm sure there is more to you than meets the eye." She answered looking him in the eyes.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Because your eyes say so. Even with the disguise, there is depth to the fake eyes and your real eyes now, a depth that suggests that there is more than the eccentric person you seem to be.

"What do you think then?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter what I think or what anyone thinks besides you. I'm sure you know what is right and wrong for you." She answered.

"I suppose you're right." He answered. Neither seemed to notice how close they were actually sitting to each other. They were both staring into each other's eyes and their faces had been moving closer to each other, their eyes closing and their lips met.


	12. Chapter 12: A Night of Movies

Chapter 12 A Night of Movies

"I can't believe it. It took me so much planning and time to actually get into Zim's house and Alex got in because of a storm?" Dib demanded. He had been ranting like that for at least thirty minutes. Sally didn't really mind, she liked listening to him talk even if he was ranting about the same thing for a long time.

"You do realize that ranting won't change anything. So Zim doesn't see Alex as a threat and therefore did not need too much convincing to allow her to stay. Like Alex said it was all Gir who got that set up." Sally commented.

"But why?" Dib asked.

"Because they like each other and refuse to admit it so he's giving them a push. Or at least that's what I think." Sally explained.

"You really think so? But doesn't Alex have a date with a classmate tomorrow?" Dib asked skeptically.

"Well yeah but that doesn't mean she likes the guy she's going on a date with, she could just be going to get to know him outside of school." Sally pointed.

"I guess so." He said with a shrug.

"There is no way this storm is passing tonight, she'll be there all night and it seems that you're stuck here for the night as well." Sally commented looking out the window.

"Guess so." He answered. He got up and went to the phone to let his dad know that he won't be home for the night because of the storm and informed him that he was at a friend's house nearby. His dad seemed excited that he was at a friend's house instead of at home working on something obscure in his room. Although that wasn't really any better than how Professor Membrane was either. Except he was rarely home at all and his kids never saw him much in person.

"Want to watch TV?" She asked when he came back to the living room.

"Sure, Mysterious Mysteries should be on in a little bit." He suggested.

"Oh cool." She said and turned on the TV and put it on the channel right before the show started.

After the opening the host came up and started talking about the episode.

"On today's episode we will be looking into Demons." He said.

"This should be interesting." Sally muttered, already know everything about demons considering where she was from.

The show continued and most of what they found was a load of horseshit in Sally's opinion, except for the last point. How all demons were evil and there was no person of demon blood that was good. Anyone who had demon blood was evil. That part just depressed her immensely.

"That was actually a very interesting episode." Dib commented.

"Non of it was true. All they did was throw together the most absurd theories about demons and put them into an episode." Sally said.

"Okay so maybe they theories they had weren't very realistic but I do agree that anyone of demon blood is evil. I mean when has anyone ever heard of a good demon or half? No one so there has to be truth to that theory." He said. That made Sally more depressed.

_No, never telling him, never ever._ She thought. All day she had been thinking about that. If they did become closer weather or not she would tell him. This made it plain to her that she should never tell him and make sure that he never found out.

Sally got up and went over to the kitchen and put some popcorn kernels into a pot to make popcorn. Din started watching the next episode of the show that was on and Sally heard them talking about witches.

_Of course my luck had to be this bad that they talk about both mysteries of both sides of my family when Dib is here on that show._ She thought sourly. She wouldn't have minded watching the show with him, but it seemed to her that fate just hated her and had to show those specific episodes today. Of all the nights they could have shown them it had to be the night that Dib was there.

She finished the popcorn and brought it to the living room with drinks and plopped back on the futon as the episode ended.

She checked the time. It was around midnight but she still wasn't really tired. Maybe she was just a little bit nervous around Dib or something.

"Want to watch a movie?" She asked.

"Sure, what movies do you have?" He asked. She got up and pulled out the only four movies they had that they were renting.

"We've already watched these two and they both sucked." She said.

"Yeah I don't like those either, but that one is a good movie." He said indicating the last movie. She put the movie in and sat back down.

It was definitely a comedy and the two made fun of it the entire time. Sally didn't think that it was necessarily a good movie, but it was a good movie to make fun of, although that was how most comedies were anyways.

After the movie they sat and talked while the credits rolled and for another thirty minutes or so. They didn't really talk about anything specific, just random things, various interests they had that they haven't learned about each other yet.

At about two in the morning they put another movie in. Around the middle of the movie they both started to become sleepier as the movie went on. Sally was the first to fall asleep and ended up falling asleep on Dib's shoulder. Dib himself was too sleepy to really notice and his head rested on hers when he fell asleep.

Sally didn't need a lot of sleep just as she didn't need a lot of food but she hadn't slept in two days so she needed it and for once in Sally's life she had good dreams. Before she and Alex had come to this dimension, when she did sleep, she had nightmares, especially at home. After they ended up here all of her dreams were weird and hard to explain but she liked that they at least were not nightmares. This time, however they were neither horrible nor unexplainable. She could make sense of the dream and she liked it too.

Sally woke up to hearing Alex's alarm in her room. The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that she was on the futon, temporarily forgetting that she had fallen asleep there. The second thing she noticed was that she was not laying exactly on the futon but on someone's chest and their arm wrapped around her and the memories of the night before flooded back. She looked up at Dib, who was still asleep, and her face turned red.

She tried to sit up slowly so he wouldn't wake up and notice but Dib seemed be a light sleeper sometimes and woke up. It took him a second to really wake up but when he did his face turned red as well.

"Um…good morning." Sally said trying to hide her blush.

"Eh, morning." He said.

"Um we should get ready for school." She said hopping up quickly and making a beeline for Alex's room to turn her alarm off and then went to her own room to change.

"Um I should get home so I'll see you at school." Dib called through the door.

"Okay see you in a little while." Sally replied and heard the door open and close. She finished getting ready and noticed a notebook on the coffee table and briefly flipped through it to make sure it wasn't Alex's.

It was obviously Dib's so she put it in her bag with her books and made to grab Alex's school stuff right as she walked through the door looking as if she were confused and had done something she hadn't.

"What happened?" Sally asked, knowing something did.

"Me and Zim kissed!" She said through a squeak.

"What?" Sally nearly shouted.

"Don't make me say it again." Alex said.

"How? What happened?" Sally asked.

"I don't know we were sitting on the couch just talking and we just kissed." She said quickly.

"What happened after?" Sally asked.

"Well after, I don't know thirty seconds or something we both pulled away and looked at each other as it processed and then we kissed again but it wasn't as long and we quickly pulled away from each other and just sat in silence for a really long time until Gir put a movie in and then we both ended up falling sleep on the couch and I woke up leaning against him and moved away before he woke up." She said quickly.

"Zim sleeps?" Sally asked.

"Yeah I didn't think so either cause you never know him sleeping, he's up a lot at night with his plans according to Gir. Gir said he's rarely seen him sleep either." Alex said.

"Wow. That is. I cannot even think of what to say about that." Sally said.

"So I'm guessing Dib ended up staying the night?" Alex asked, wanting to change the subject.

She had no idea how she felt about the night before and early morning and even if she did completely understand it, she wasn't sure that she was ready to face it. She had never been involved in romantic affairs with anyone in any way besides accepting to go on a date that day but she didn't even like Ted, she was attracted to him and just wanted to get to know him outside of school to see if she did like him or not, but when it came to serious things like sharing a kiss she didn't understand it well.

"Oh, um yeah he did." Sally said and a blush crossed her face.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Well we fell asleep on the futon at about three in the morning and I woke up on his chest and his arm was wrapped around me. I tried to get up without waking him up but he woke up and neither of is knew what to do." Sally explained.

"Oh man. Looks like today is going to be another awkward day." Alex said.


	13. Chapter 13: Alex's First Date

Chapter 13 Alex's First Date

The day wasn't nearly as awkward as Sally and Alex had feared although it was hard for any of them to talk to each other, all four seemed more confused than awkward about the situations.

At the end of the day Ted met Alex at her locker with, what seemed to her, a cocky smile that immediately annoyed her. She stepped around him and opened her locker. A few seconds later Zim, Dib and Sally came to their own lockers around hers.

"So you ready for tonight?" Ted asked her.

"Yup." She answered simply.

"You don't sound too enthused." He said leaning against her locker door, keeping her from putting her stuff away.

"Just been distracted. I've had a lot on my mind." She answered.

"Like what? Me? Too excited?" He asked with a sly tone. She gave him an un-amused looked and found him less attractive by the second and was looking less forward to the date.

"No, just stuff on my mind is all." She answered simply.

"Well you'd better not be like this later on." He said.

"I can't make any real promises now can you please move I have to put my books away so I can get home." She said blankly.

"You're acting strange today, the other day when I asked you out you seemed excited. Now you don't seem to want to at all." He said simply.

"I'm just distracted today." She answered.

"Well just don't be like this later on. I'll be at your apartment at six." He said and walked away. Alex made a WTF sort of face behind his back and dropped her books in her locker and put what books she needed into her bag/

"Well damn he was definitely not acting like that the other day and he says you're acting weird. Makes me want to slap him with that stupid cocky look on his face." Sally said.

"I know. I would cancel if it didn't bother me so much to break promises." Alex said leaning her head against the locker door with a dull thud.

"Then just go and sit there like a dead fish." Dib suggested.

"I guess so." She agreed and walked down the hallway after giving Zim a wave when she walked by him.

"That worm-monkey did have a point though. She is acting very odd today." Zim said.

"Oh and you aren't? Guess both of you are distracted and lost in thought." Sally said with a shrug.

He didn't reply. He just rolled his eyes and walked down the hallway to see Alex hiding behind a wall and peaking her head around it. He decided to be mean and snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear, "What're you doing?"

She practically jumped out of her skin and whirled around to face him and put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. On her way out she had heard Ted talking to some girl harshly. She turned back around to see what was going on.

"I thought we had a date tonight?" The girl demanded angrily.

"I'm sorry Mimi but a family emergency came up. My dad has been admitted into the hospital." Ted said.

"But we had dinner plans tonight. I made reservations." She said.

"I'm sorry but my family needs me there when my dad goes into surgery. We will have to try for another day, take one of your friends." He suggested.

"Okay. I guess I'm just being selfish. Be with your family." She said and gave him a kiss and parted ways.

"That jerk." Alex hissed when they were both gone.

"What?" Zim asked.

"Those two are together and he's planning a date with me. He'd be cheating on her." She explained.

"That's stupid." He said.

"I know. Hm. It'd still bug me if I broke a promise, but maybe there's a way I can ruin the date." Alex said.

"Why don't you get a friend to just happen to show up and you invite them to join you two." He suggested.

"Great idea thanks for volunteering." Alex said.

"What? I didn't mean me. I meant Sally or one of your other friends." He said surprised.

"Aw come on please Zim. It was your idea anyways and it would make it worse for him if it was a male friend." Alex said.

"No. That is completely stupid." He said.

"Come on, if you do this then I'll owe you one. Please help me get rid of this jerk." She said.

"What do you mean you will owe me one?" He asked.

"If there is anything I can do for you then I will be obligated to do it because, assuming you do, you helped me." She explained.

"Hm. Alright. What do you have in mind?" He asked.

When Alex got home about fifteen minutes later Sally was sitting on the futon and asked, "What took you so long?"

"Oh. I was plotting on ruining the date. Can you believe Ted has a girlfriend and he lied to her because they had a date tonight too so he lied to her." Alex said.

"What's your plan?" Sally asked so Alex explained.

"Okay now for more important things, you didn't give any real detail as to what happened last night." Sally said. A light blush crossed Alex's face and said, "We can talk later I should get ready."

"Alexandrite if you even think about avoiding the subject forever I will find a way to corner you." Sally called after her. Alex just gave a wave as she walked. She knew Sally mean business when she used Alex's full name, which very few people actually knew since it simply never came up. If someone called her Alexandra or something like then she would correct them but that was rare so she was just known as Alex.

When she came back out she said, "Don't worry I promise I won't avoid it but right now I'm distracted."

"Fine, fine." She said rolling her eyes. There was a knock at the door and Alex went to go answer it. It was obviously Ted so she gave him a fake smile and said, "Hi."

"You ready to go?" He asked.

"Yup, lets go." She answered as they walked out the door.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're in a better mood." Ted commented as they walked into the theatre.

"Like I said, I was just distracted." She answered with a shrug and saw Zim and gave him a wave and said, "Hi Zim."

"Oh hi Alex, hi…Ted right?" Zim asked.

"Yes. What are you doing here?" Ted asked.

"Same as you I came to see a movie. What movie are you two seeing?" He asked. Alex showed him her ticket.

"Oh cool I'm seeing it too." He said as they got in line outside of the theatre. Ted glared at him as if it was his fault that a classmate was seeing the same movie when it came out. There was a ling line so it was definitely going to be crowded. _Perfect._ Alex thought with a small smile.

As they went inside they managed to find seats not too close to the screen and luck seemed to be on Alex's side because there were very few seats left so Zim was able to take the seat on the other side of her.

Zim thought back on when he had first gotten the idea and knew that he was right. He had known he would regret agreeing to do this for Alex, but she had been right, Ted knew how close she and Sally were so it would have been obvious that they had planned it and it would have likely made it worse if it were a male friend. But he didn't like seeing that worm-monkey try to do things like hold her hand. He did enjoy the fact that Alex rejected him every time he tried and knowing that she had wanted Zim to help her ditch this guy when she realized that she didn't like him and that he was cheating on his girlfriend.

Ted rested his arm on the back of Alex's seat and Alex had a feeling she knew what he was going to do and she leaned against the opposite armrest. It was a casual enough move but it also sent Ted the message of, 'don't you dare.'

By the end of the movie Ted was in a sour mood and this time he wasn't trying to be sneaky about it, he simply wrapped an arm around Alex.

"Come on Alex let's go get some dinner." He said.

"I would love to but I'm very tired. Maybe another time okay?" Alex asked.

He scowled and said, "Well I would love to walk you home but I really need to get to the hospital to visit my dad."

"If your dad is in the hospital then I would have understood if you canceled. You really should have been with your family instead of going on a date." Alex said with her best 'oh no!' expression.

"I guess you're right. Well I'll see you in class." He said and headed in the opposite direction. After he had rounded the corner Alex hugged Zim without thinking and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you big time for this!"

She quickly let go and said, "Um, sorry."

He just stood there slightly stunned but the hug but quickly got over and said, "Like you said, you owe me for this. Well I will see you later."

Alex smiled a little and said, "See you later. Oh how are you doing? Your injuries from fixing the cruiser-ship-thing?" She immediately realized how lame that last part sounded.

He cracked a small amused smile and said, "Just fine."


	14. Chapter 14: A New Teacher

Chapter 14 A New Teacher

When Alex came back Sally was ready with her questions.

"How'd the date go? Did you sit there like a dead fish? Now will you give me details on what happened last night?" She asked.

"Okay, lets see the date wasn't too bad and no I did not sit there like a dead fish because Zim and I had come up with a plan and I had begged him to help me so the date for Ted was ruined." She started.

"Wait why? What'd Ted do to motivate you to completely ruin it for him?" Sally asked.

"Cheating on his girlfriend. And you have to give me details on what happened last night as well." Alex said.

"Well we had watched Mysterious Mysteries and of course because fate hates me that way I guess the two episodes that were on were on demons and the witches and Dib agrees with the host that all demons and relatives are evil so there's no way I'm telling him." Sally said.

"Yeah fate seems to be trying to tell him instead." Alex answered.

"So what else happened? You said Gir caused problems with the cruiser-ship-thinggy. What exactly did he do?" She asked.

"Well he cut some wires and then something exploded twice so Zim kicked us out so he could try and fix it and got hurt several times." Alex started.

"He got hurt? How? What happened?" She asked.

"Well I think one is a cut and the other two are burns or something like that. I was at least able to talk him into taking a break before he got hurt again, if he ignored me then his other arm would have probably gotten hurt." Alex answered.

"Where'd he get hurt besides one of his arms cause he seemed to be moving pretty stiffly today. Like he would turn his whole body to turn around instead of just turning his torso." Sally asked.

"He got hurt around his hip on his left side and near his ribs on the right side. He was still bleeding when he had the first bandages on." She answered.

"Ow, wait when did you see his wounds?" She asked.

"Oh me and Gir were playing twister-

"I love that game!"

"And he walked in to see what we were doing but it took me a little bit to actually notice that he didn't have his tunic on and was bandaged up." She said.

"His shirt was off? Oh baby." Sally said teasingly.

"Shut up, get your mind out of the gutter." Alex said.

"I bet that's where your mind was when you noticed his shirt off." Sally said, still teasing her about it.

"No not really." Alex said blushing a little.

"Right. I bet you think he's hot." Sally said.

"Oh and like you didn't love it when you woke up on Dib's chest." Alex countered.

"Oh I did. The difference between you and me when it comes to romance, I may have avoided it just as much as you, but I'm more open about it and don't get embarrassed about it nearly as much as you do. Reason being lust is one of the seven deadly sins, being born an expert on such things even though I don't act or agree with most of the things like that, I'm still more open about it, or at least with you since you're my best friend." She said.

"Damn. I can't win with you can I?" Alex asked.

"Not until you become more open than me about stuff like this." Sally said.

"Oh well." She said with a shrug.

Alex and Sally spent most of their weekend with practicing various flying techniques through the forest. What both of them lacked in flying was weaving through trees and other obstacles. Because of their large wingspans it was hard to do so anyways so they needed lots of practice and despite practicing almost every weekend they still had a lot of problems.

For the third time that weekend the two collided in some way and crashed to the ground. The third time was the worst of any other time that they had collided. It was head on and they were very high up in the trees so they got cuts, scrapes and bruises on the way down as well. Sally fell flat on her back while hitting her head on a fallen tree while Alex fell right on her face.

"Sally with take-it-to-the-head-itise and me with take-it-to-the-face-itise. Many things have taken us down from storms to bullets to lasers but never had we take each other down with our own problem." Alex said lying facedown, her head throbbing. Sally's head had a good cut on the back of it and it was also throbbing as well. They were both sore all over but neither moved. Neither had any broken bones but they did have some good cuts and bruises that would keep them form doing that for a week or so.

"That was not pleasant." Sally said after a minute or so of silence.

"Nope. Next time we work with flying, lets not fly in opposite directions, we'd only circle back and fly into each other." Alex suggested.

"Agreed. I don't want to break you." Sally said.

"I'd rather you not break me either. I think my bones have been broken enough over the years." She answered and slowly pushed herself up. No matter how slowly she did so the blood still rushed back to her head and she ended up just rolling over onto her back.

"Are you two okay?" A voice asked. They looked over to see Dib walking up to them.

"Define okay." Sally said.

Alex managed to get herself into a sitting position and surveyed the damage. Some cuts and bruises and scrapes. Sally was similar but the back of her head had some blood in her hair and dirt. Alex and Dib helped Sally up and the two tried to look as normal as possible before walking home. Dib tagged along, probably to make sure Sally would be okay Alex guessed.

"I wonder who will be our substitute for Ms. Bitters the next few months." Dib said after Sally and Alex got cleaned up.

"Who knows, hopefully not someone as, well bitter, as she is. If she says doom one more time I think I will go crazy." Sally said sourly.

"You just have to get use to it." Dib said.

"My parents were no different I'm tired of hearing stuff like that." Sally said simply, she didn't actually mean to mention her parents that had just slipped.

"Your parents? Why aren't you living with them?" He asked.

"We just didn't see eye to eye at all." Sally said simply to say that the subject had been dropped.

On Monday when Sally and Alex had walked into class and took their seats their jaws dropped when they saw who the new teacher was until Ms. Bitters came back. It was Sally's brother.

"Oh shit." They both said in unison.

"What's wrong?" Dib asked. They both pushed aside their surprise.

"Er, nothing, we both just forgot something at home that we were supposed to remind each other of." Sally said quickly thinking of some excuse.

"Everyone take your seats. Good morning I am Mr. Sharp I will be here until Ms. Bitters returns from her vacation." Dev got up from his seat saying all of this with a charming smile that made the girls swoon. Well all of them besides Alex and Sally since he was not on their list of preferred substitute teachers. Although being human to an extent, it was still hard for Alex to resist the charm but since she knew Dev previously she was able to overlook it.

The boys didn't understand why the girls were swooning but they eventually just figured that they thought he was good-looking or something.

Alex and Sally made a beeline for the door when the bell rang for lunch but were immediately called back by Dev.

"Sally, Alex, can you hang back for a little bit? I would like to have a word with you." He called. They would have loved nothing more than to keep going but they didn't want to get in trouble at school (even though trouble has come to them) so they did as he asked, knowing it was not a good idea.

The rest of the students went on ahead to lunch, the girls glaring at the two. When all of them were gone Dev turned to them and said, "It's great to see you again. How have you been the past month or so?"

"Great until you showed up." Sally snapped.

"Ah little sister. I do not plan to mess with your life. I am simply observing. If I deem that you are fine here then you will not be forced to come home." He said.

"Yeah right. Like you or dad has ever kept your word." She said coldly.

"We did keep our word. I did not think that the other dimension you were living in was fit for you so you had to come home. We are only wanting what is best for you and the family and your behavior has not been best for the family." He said.

"Then disown her. I doubt Sally would care since she's already disowned you." Alex suggested.

"Ah Alexandrite. It is not that simple for a family like ours." He said.

"I just thought you should know that I am honestly only here to observe how you are adjusting to this dimension." He said.

"I don't care Dev. I stayed here to be away from you and everyone else just as Alex did. We have a life now, one where we can be normal. If you ruin this then it will be the last thing you ever do." Sally said.

"Ah there is what I wanted to see. Anger. Maybe this world is going to be good for you. Well off you go. I will see you later." He said shooing them off. They did not have a problem with leaving. When they took their seat at their table Alex was the first to speak, "He's really creeping me out. And I thought we would be able to ignore him if he showed up. Now we have to listen to him talk all the time."


	15. Chapter 15: Gir Can Be Serious?

Chapter 15 Gir Can Be Serious?

Stormy weather rolled in once again but this time Alex went straight home and apparently so did Dib so it was just Alex and Sally in the apartment.

"Ah storms so calming." Sally commented.

"Speak for yourself." Alex said.

Sally shrugged and sat on the futon saying, "I'm actually sort of surprised."

"About?" Alex asked.

"You've been able to control your emotions very well lately. I guess it's because you're finally away from the white-coats." She said shrugging.

"Yup." Alex said simply. She always quickly dismissed talking about that stuff just as much as Sally did when they got onto the topic of her family, they only talked about it if they had to, but that was it.

The power shut off and lightning flashed and thunder shook the building.

"Wow, this must be a worse storm than last weeks storm. It didn't knock out the power." Sally commented.

"Yeah. I wonder if they even sell candles in stores." Alex added.

"Who knows." She answered and a ball of fire floated over her hand to give the room a little bit of light.

"Well what should we do now?" Alex asked.

"We should talk about our deepest darkest secrets." Sally said in an overly serious tone of voice.

"Depends on what you mean. Do you the ones that we keep from others or the ones we keep from each other?" Alex asked.

"We keep secrets from each other?" Sally asked.

"I don't know, do we?" She responded.

"It seems we do not so there is no problem." Sally concluded and sat there for a little bit it silence before she had an outburst by nearly shouting, "Tuna!"

She got up and went to the kitchen.

"Wow." Alex answered. Sally was fairly random when she was comfortable around others.

There was a thud outside of the apartment in the hallway.

"What the?" Sally asked and opened the door to see Gir facedown on the floor.

"Gir? What are you doing here? How did you get here and how did you find us?" Sally asked.

"I don't know." He said as Alex walked to the door to see what was going on.

"Oh! Master is hurt." Gir said.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"He was testing the cruiser and something sploded and crashed. I left to find help and found you." He said.

"Can you show us where?" Sally asked. Gir nodded and ran off down the hall. Alex and Sally followed. He went out onto a fire exit and went down. They followed and followed Gir into the woods. After a little bit they came across a bunch of trees that had been broken and followed that trail until they could see the damaged cruiser. The storm raged on around them but they ignored it as they went closer to the cruiser.

"Zim!" Alex shouted over the storm. She could just barely hear a groan from inside the cruiser. The glass had been shattered and Zim was pinned under something that had been snapped out of place. Alex and Sally managed to lift enough of the cruiser up so that Gir could get Zim out. He yelled out in pain when Gir pulled him out and when he was safely out they put it back down.

Alex looked at Zim, he was cut up and bruised, and it looked like his wounds from before had reopened as well as getting a broken leg.

They carefully lifted him off the ground. Alex used her wings as blankets to shield him from the cold and rain and to help keep him secure as they made their way back. They took the fire escape back into the building and down the hall.

Girl closed the apartment door behind them as they put Zim on the futon. He seemed to have hit his head or something because he was having trouble staying conscious.

"Should we take him to a hospital?" Sally asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Alex answered and checked his leg first. It was definitely broken as far as she could tell. She was no medical expert but she had gotten hurt plenty herself and broken enough bones to know one and at least some basic knowledge on how to help so she did her best and asked Gir about anything she wasn't sure of. For once he was actually serious and she was grateful of that. Sally helped out as well by getting what was needed.

"Well. Let's hope he doesn't surgery or anything like that because that would seriously cause problems." Sally said to break the silence when Alex was done. They had cut off the left pants leg from the knee below because it was in the way and had to get his shirt off to bandage and re-bandage some wounds.

"Will master be okay?" Gir asked looking like he was about to cry.

"I think so." Sally told him sitting cross legged on the floor in front of him while Alex sat on the floor by the futon. They had put a pillow under his head and put a blanket over him. His breathing was even so that seemed to be a good thing.

Luckily the power had gone back on but they turned off the overhead light and kept a lamp on so it wasn't so bright in the room. At around midnight Sally went to bed and Gir went to curl up with her, but Alex sat on a lounge chair with a blanket and fell asleep there. They had no school the next day, it was some obscure holiday that Sally and Alex weren't familiar with, but it meant no school on a Tuesday so neither of them had a problem with it.

Zim woke up in an unfamiliar place and made the mistake of sitting up too quickly. Blood rushed to his head and pain spread from his leg to the rest of his body. He hissed in pain and didn't really have much choice but to lay back down. A horrible thought came to him. That Earth authorities had found him but then he noticed that someone was curled up in a chair at his feet. At first he couldn't tell who it was but then he recognized the person as Alex.

_She looks so peaceful asleep. Much more relaxed._ He thought.

_Am I in her house?_ He thought and looked around. It was small and but had a homey feel to it. A door gently opened and closed and Gir wandered out and noticed that he was awake.

"Master! You is okay!" He cheered and Alex immediately woke up with a jerk and looked like she was ready to fight but then she relaxed when she remembered where she was.

She sat back on the chair and asked him, "How're you feeling?"

"Sore." Zim answered.

"Well I imagine why." She said sarcastically.

"How'd I get here?" He asked.

"Gir found us and we brought you back here. Sorry it's not exactly medical treatment but we did the best we could." She explained.

"Um…well thanks." He said.

"No problem." She answered.

"Guess this means I owe you." He said.

"No, you saved me that time at the beach and you help me get rid of Ted and I help you now, I still owe you one." She answered.

He chuckled and said, "I will not argue."

She got up and sat at the edge of the futon and asked, "Can I take a look at your leg?"

He nodded and she moved the blanket. The splint seemed to be working okay and his leg seemed to be okay besides the fact that it probably hurt.

"Well it hasn't changed color so it seems to be okay, well besides the fact that it's broken." She muttered and looked at the deep cut he had gotten on his foot. The bandages needed to be changed but it wasn't infected or anything so that was good.

"Do you mind if I check the other wounds?" She asked. He shrugged and slowly sat up. She helped him sit up and move the blanket and checked the bandages on his arms. She figured it was best to go ahead and change them. She moved to looking over his torso. She carefully peeled off a gauze bandage on his chest and tended to that. The entire time she fought a blush that was trying to creep across her face. She replaced the rest of the bandages and said, "Well that's all I can really do."

"I don't think there is really much that can be done besides that. Thanks." He answered, the entire time he himself felt his face heat up and fought it so she didn't notice.

What neither of them knew was that Sally was standing in her doorway and saw them. She smiled and went back into her room to change out of her pajamas and into normal clothes.

"So you hungry?" She asked to change the subject.

"A little." He answered.

"Is there anything specific you want?" She asked.

"Not really." He answered.

"Okay then Ill just make stuff and see what you like." She said getting up and went to the kitchen and started to pull things out and fix various foods and brought it over to him. They both ate in silence for a little while. When they finished Alex picked up the dishes and took them to the sink. She went back to the futon and sat next to Zim.

"I never thought Gir could be serious until he showed up last night so worried about you." Alex said to start some sort of conversation. Zim didn't say anything for a little bit but then asked, "And what about you?"

"Yeah. I was worried too." She answered.


	16. Chapter 16: Music's Effects

Chapter 16 Music's Effects

"Oh you were, were you?" He asked teasingly. For some reason he felt more comfortable around her than he had thought. He wasn't sure if they would end up being awkward around each other because of the kiss or not. Alex didn't really expect him to tease her like that but she decided to accept it and move on.

"Yes I was. I'm not afraid to admit it." She answered thoughtfully. She knew she liked him, but she couldn't place exactly why, even the things he did that would normally irritate her like being loud and dramatic would typically make her want to hit him, but she just found it funny and cute. But she was still very stubborn and even though she has had no problem admitting it to herself, she will not likely admit it aloud to anyone (well, maybe Sally if she asks her enough).

Gir screamed something that neither could understand and ran off in the direction of Sally's room.

"Gir, so cute, so random." Alex commented.

"Random yes. Cute no." Zim responded.

"Aw. He is cute." She said.

"Earthlings are so weird." He said rolling his eyes.

"It's mostly just a girl thing." She said shrugging.

Sally opened her door a little bit to see what was going on. They were just sitting there talking, which of course to her was good, but she decided to be evil anyways and went back into her room and hooked her ipod to speakers and turned the volume up before pressing play on a specific song.

Suddenly music started to play from Sally's room. Alex knew immediately that it was the song E.T. by Katy Perry that was being played loudly from Sally's room.

"Oh god. Why do you do this Sally?" Alex muttered putting her head in her hands with a groan.

"What's wrong? Do you not like loud music?" Zim asked.

"Er, you could say that." Alex answered. Zim became curious and listened closely to the lyrics and seemed to understand why Alex didn't want the music playing. He found it to be an odd song and knew it was from their dimension since it was almost nothing like the music in this one.

"I'll be right back." Alex said getting up and went to Sally's room to find that the door was locked.

"Sally! Turn off the music it's too loud!" Alex shouted over it. Zim watched and cracked an amused smile.

"No! It is the perfect song to play!" She yelled through the door.

Alex's head hit the door with a dull thud and she stood there for several seconds before walking back to the futon and sat down.

"Stubborn girl." He commented.

"Yes." She agreed as the song continued.

"Is there a specific reason she's playing this song?" He asked confused.

"I'm sure there is but I don't think I want to know specifically why." Alex answered although she knew full well why Sally was playing the song and she was sure Zim knew as well, they both just wanted to remain ignorant.

The song ended and they both sat in an awkward silence. Knowing full well why Sally played the song and knew what the lyrics were saying as well.

A new song played and Alex nearly died right there. It was obvious that she was embarrassed as the song started to play further a blush crossed her face and it turned even more red when Zim listened to the song and a blush crossed his face as well. She pulled her legs up and sat in a cross-legged position.

The song, "Kiss the Girl" from the movie, "The Little Mermaid" played from the room to them clearly and Alex could just see Sally and Gir laughing or something.

They sat quietly, well except for Alex, she softly sung along to the song.

"So you sing?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered.

"What is it with some Earthlings and music?" He asked.

"Music it affects everyone in some way, everyone has an appreciation for music in some way once they find that way. It can change the mood of a mass of people almost instantly. Music has power it can express so much emotion and thought and work into just one song. It's magical and can be intense or soft. You can express anything with music and other fine arts like visual arts as well." Alex said, she was very passionate about music. It was her life. She liked other things as well but music was very special to her.

Zim could see how passionate she was about music and he admired it. It made him want to learn more about what she was talking about and experience it for himself and as he listening to the song he started to understand what she meant by how it could affect people's emotions.

"So do you more with music besides sing?" He asked.

"Um, well I play some instruments, but mostly just work with my vocal chords." She answered and went back to singing along to the song with a small smile that was genuine. He liked it when she smiled; it always made him feel a warmth inside that he didn't really understand but he liked it.

"Music is very important to you isn't it?" He asked.

"I always say music equals life. To me it does. It was the first good thing I found." She answered. He could tell that she wasn't going to go into detail but he also recognized that she had said something that was kept hidden deep inside from others.

Without thinking he put a hand over hers and she looked up at him. As the song ended they moved closer, their faces inches from each other-

"So cute!" a squeal came from Sally's room, breaking the moment. They noticed what they were about to do and moved away from each other. Alex looked at her hands in her lap trying to hide a blush that had, once again, crossed her face.

Gir ran out and jumped up on the futon with them. He leaned against Zim and said, "I love you master."

Zim gave him a blank look and got up but Alex heard a growl of pain as he stood on his broken leg.

"Don't you dare get up and try to walk on that leg. Sit back down." Alex ordered and got up and went to her room. Zim ignored her and followed asking, "What are you doing?"

"Getting something you can use to stay off your leg but still blend in." Alex answered going into her closet. She pulled out a pair of crutches. They had various modifications to them but they were still generally the same as to what she and Sally were use to. Apparently there was something about them that helped to heal you faster but she didn't really get that.

"You can use these for school and when you go out until your leg is healed." She said.

"Oh, um thanks." He said.

"But it's not a good idea to go home the way you are, well moving a lot isn't a good idea so we need to think of another way to get you home." She added.

"Fly him home." Sally called.

"Hm, yeah that could work." Alex agreed.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean, Gir carries the crutches and flies home and I will fly you home." She said.

"I don't need your help on getting home." He said being stubborn.

"Would you rather go all the way home like that?" She asked indicating all of him.

He thought about it and said, "Fine."

"You're pretty stubborn you know that?" She asked.

"Says the most stubborn person ever." He said. She giggled and said, "Well I suppose you wouldn't want to stick around here so I guess we should get going in a little bit."

"Yes." He agreed.

"Okay, I'll get changed and we can leave." She said pulling out clean clothes and going into the bathroom to change.

Zim looked around the room and sat on the bed. He noticed a notebook on the bed that was lying open on a page with a staff and notes and lyrics on the other side. He read the lyrics and tried to picture Alex singing the song. He smiled a little, he liked the lyrics, they opened a door that Alex always seemed to keep closed to everyone besides Sally it seemed considering the fact that they lived together.

He flipped through the notebook a little and read the lyrics to the songs. Some of them seemed very rebellious, more so than she was while others seemed mournful but there was a section in the front of the notebook of nothing but happy and love songs which didn't seemed like Alex at all. The songs seemed fake to him.

"Ready to go? What're you reading?" Alex asked walking over and noticed what he was reading. She wasn't mad like she would normally be even if he had read her song lyrics.

"Um this was laying out." He said handing it to her. She closed the notebook without a word and stuck it into her bag. Zim couldn't tell if she was angry or not.

"Sorry." He said.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have left it lying out if I didn't want anyone to read it. I just don't know if I'm ready to let a lot of people read that stuff. I'm sure you could tell that the first half of the songs are pretty fake sounding." She said.

"Why do you have fake songs like that?" He asked.

"To make anyone who tried to read them think they're just songs. Normally I keep the notebook closed when I'm not writing in it so people usually look at what is there first. The other half of them are more like my diary." She explained.


	17. Chapter 17: Adventure with Dib

Chapter 17 Adventure with Dib 

When Alex and Zim left Sally laughed and watched them fly off. Zim had a hypnotized look on his face when he got a close look at Alex's wings and even touched them. Sally noticed Alex stiffen briefly but relaxed to his touch.

_They're so cute._ Sally thought with a smile as Alex placed where Zim should put his arms so it minimized the pain on him for takeoff and it was still secure so he wouldn't fall. Gir had already flown off and they took off.

There was a knock at the door right after Sally closed the back door to the balcony. She went to open it and was greeted by Dib.

"Hi there." She said.

"Hi, are you free today?" He asked.

"Yeah what do you want to do?" She asked.

"I found this really cool cave at the side of a cliff in the forest." He said.

"Awesome, let's go check it out." She answered. She got ready to go and locked the door behind them.

They walked through town and headed west close to where the mountains were. The mountains weren't very high from being worn down by the elements over the years but they were still pretty high and there were still many trees that were changing due to the seasons changing. The trees were so pretty with the multiple colors across the mountain.

They came to a high cliff and at the foot of it there was the mouth of the cave. It looked more like a large crack in the side of the cliff.

_No wonder people don't go in here. It looks like a scar in the mountain._ Sally thought as they walked up to it.

"Are there other places to get in an out? If this is the only one then it could be dangerous if it had gotten sealed off." Sally asked.

"Yeah there are a few other places. I have a map. It's just that people don't come into the caves because they're creepy." He explained.

"Oh, okay then." She said and followed him through the mouth of the cave. She turned her flashlight on so they could see. Some bats fluttered in response but they bothered neither of the two as they walked through the cave with their lights. They came to a wide-open area where there were stalagmites and stalactites everywhere.

"Cool." She commented looking around. It was cold in the cave but not cold enough to bother them. They continued to walk across the large open area and looked around. The sound of moisture echoed through the cave.

"Alex would love this place, the acoustics are amazing." Sally commented.

"That's not necessarily true, the sound in here reverberates for at least three seconds. For certain music isn't it best between 1.6 or so and two seconds?" Dib asked.

"Hm, good point." She agreed.

As they went deeper into the cave the number of bats above increased and many freaked out when the light reached them. Dib and Sally ducked as they flew around as if they had lost their minds. They turned off the flashlights so they would calm down.

"Guess we have to get use to the dark." Dib said.

"That's okay, I can see, here I'll guide us." Sally said and she took his hand. She was glad it was so dark so he couldn't see her blushing.

"I wish I had remembered my night vision goggles." Dib commented, his face was also red but he was fortunate enough that Sally wasn't paying attention.

They continued to press on until Sally miss-stepped and dropped, taking Dib with her. They landed on a smooth surface but didn't have time to react to that because it slopped downward. They both let out a scream of surprise but it was long lost behind them as they slip at fast pace through the darkness. They had let go of each other by accident but ended up in the same spot when landing.

Somehow Dib had ended up in front of Sally and landed with a dull thud. Before he regained his wits Sally landed right on top of him.

"Ow." He managed to get out.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's okay." He said. He was able to see her silhouette and her eyes. They were practically glowing. He had to admit, they were pretty creepy, but they were also hypnotic and beautiful.

Sally looked up at Dib into his dark golden eyes. He had the same eyes as his sister Gaz, but unlike the way they were on Gaz, who were menacing and empty of emotion, Dib's eyes held something more that she couldn't place.

She quickly got up, both of their faces red again.

"Um, w-well that was certainly an adventure." Sally managed to say.

"Yeah, scary but fun." He agreed. Sally helped him up and kept a hold of his hand as they started to walk again.

There was a greenish glow ahead and they followed it until they came to a lake that had a light somewhere at the bottom. The water made it green but it was odd for there to be a light under the water anyways.

"That's really weird." Dib commented.

"Weird but cool." Sally commented and stuck her hand in the water, it was warm, as if the light were keeping it heated.

"It's warm. The light must be keeping the water warm." She said. Dib knelt down and stuck his hand in the water.

"You're right. That's still really weird. I wonder where the light is coming from." He said.

"Why don't we find out?" She asked.

"It's cold outside, when we get out of the water we'd freeze." He said.

"Hm, true." She agreed. She still wanted to see what it was or where it was coming from.

They sat there for a little bit in silence. It was a comfortable silence though; neither of them felt the need to talk to make the time comfortable. At the same time they both stood up to leave.

They followed a tunnel that led straight to the cave Sally had found where a portal had been. It had disappeared, which she wasn't surprised about. The sun indicated that it was late afternoon.

"It'll be getting dark soon, we should get home." Dib said.

"Wanna walk or fly?" Sally asked.

"Whichever you prefer." He said.

"Then let's fly. You haven't had my bird's eye view of the city have you?" She asked.

"Not what you mean no I haven't." He said.

"Then let's go." She said. Her wings coming out of her back and took off with him. They climbed higher and higher until they were at a comfortable height above the city.

"Wow." He commented.

"Cool hu?" She asked.

"Amazing." He answered. She smiled a little, that was one of the things she liked most about Dib, he never gave up and he could almost always find something good out of things, except when it came to Zim of course. But he never gave up in trying to stop Zim or let other's bring him down despite all of the ridicule he's had from others his whole life.

She climbed up into the clouds and above to show him what the view was like above the clouds and nothing but clear skies.

"This is so cool." He commented. She smiled a little and asked, "Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, wait why?" He asked suspiciously.

"This is why." She said and did a bunch of fancy loopty loops and tricks through the air and dove through the clouds and down toward the city below. She pulled up right before they hit a building and climbed up again and flew towards his house. She landed in his backyard neatly. It took Dib a minute or so to recover, she could tell because he was still hanging on to her for dear life.

"Are you okay?" She asked. He didn't answer for a while but when he did he said, "Yeah."

"Sorry. I guess I should have given you more warning." She said.

"It's okay. Just let me recover and I'll tell you what I thought of that." He said. After about five minutes he finally let go of her. He had jelly legs.

"That was fun, but major adrenaline rush." He said.

"Yeah, hang out with me more and you'll get use to it." She said.

"I guess so." He said with a weak smile.

"Go rest." She said. He nodded and said, "See you at school tomorrow."

"Uh, school. But yeah see you tomorrow." She said with a wave and took off again. She landed on the balcony and went inside. Alex was sitting on the couch watching TV and eating cereal.

"So how was your day?" Alex asked not looking away from the TV.

"Good, me and Dib explored a cave. What did you do after dropping Zim off?" Sally answered.

"Hung out there for a little while and made cookies with Gir." Alex answered.

"Oh really?" Sally asked slyly.

"Don't be 'Oh really?' me. You and Dib alone in a dark cave, what happened there?" Alex asked.

Sally remembered back when she had fallen on him and a blush crossed her face.

"Oh something did happen?" Alex asked.

"Well not like that really." Sally protested and explained what had happened.

"Oh you two are so cute together." She said.

"It wouldn't work, and what about you and Zim. You two are totally cute together." Sally said.


	18. Chapter 18: Detention

Chapter 18 Detention

Special thanks to my bf, Cody for helping think of an absurd excuse for Zim's leg

"What happened to your leg Zim?" Dev asked Wednesday morning when he walked into class.

"A vicious pork kicking accident." Zim said. Alex hid her head in her arms to hide her amused smile.

"What? You don't seriously believe that do you?" Dib demanded.

"Weird things can happen." Dev said with a shrug. Dib let out a growl of frustration.

_There's no way he believes it._ Sally thought. She would have liked to tell Dib that but then he would want to know how she knew that and that was cutting it a little too close to dangerous waters than she wanted to get.

They sat around and listened to Dev talk about a million different random things. It was different from Ms. Bitters talking about doom a destruction but it somehow wasn't really any better, although that may have been because Sally and Alex hated him and all of the boys were sick of hearing the girls giggling about how cute he was.

"Is it just me or is time slowing down? Like almost stopping?" Dib whispered.

"I was just wondering the same thing, it feels like it." She whispered back.

Alex had her head on her desk and scribbling in her notebook under her desk. Zim was drawing and writing stuff on an electronic pad, he was likely working on his next plan. Dib read a book on the paranormal, specifically on demons. Sally started doodling various stars and constellations that, due to the advancement of technology and increase of pollution, could no longer be seen without a telescope. By the time the bell had rung she had an entire solar system on her page that was made up of multiple different stars, planets and constellations.

Alex and Sally were among the boys who had gotten out of the room as fast as they could, the other girls however lagged because they were still in a trance and in aw of the substitute teacher.

"Hold up you four. Dib, Zim, Alex and Sally. Please stay back for a few minutes so I may talk to you." Dev called.

_Oh god what does he want now?_ Sally and Alex both thought sourly but all four hung back as the girls slowly left. When everyone was gone he turned to them and said, "I do not appreciate it when students do not pay attention."

"But we weren't the only ones, it was us and the other half of the class." Alex argued.

"Yes but at least they tried to pay attention." He said.

"The hell they did. And for all you know we were taking notes." She argued.

"Dib was reading, Zim was drawing blueprints, Sally was doodling a solar system and you were writing a song." He said flatly.

"Hold up. How would you know when we all sit in the back and from the vantage point you would not have been able to know something like that. You're just guessing." Sally demanded.

"I know you four were not paying attention at all and I do not appreciate being argued with." He said.

"You just don't like being wrong." Zim muttered.

"Sally does have a point, you couldn't possible know what we were doing specifically." Dib added.

"I do not appreciate the lack of respect so all four of you will have detention with me this afternoon." He said.

"What? You cannot be serious." Alex said.

"Two days for you Alex." He said.

"Just because she asked if you were serious?" Sally asked with a skeptical look on his face.

"You can have two days as well Sally. Anyone else want to argue?" He asked while writing out their slips. No one else argued.

"Good see you all this afternoon and if you don't show up then I will report you to the principal." He said.

"Oh because that is so terrible. Getting yelled at." Alex muttered.

"Do you want to graduate?" He asked.

"Oh please I could graduate from this school this year if I wanted. All four of us could the expectations are so low it's not even funny." She snapped.

"But that doesn't they will allow you to, now go before I make it three days." He said.

"Gladly." All four of them said in unison and left.

"I hate him." Alex grumbled.

"You barely know him." Dib said.

"Your point?" She asked.

"You don't really have any reason to besides the fact that he doesn't let people argue with him." He said.

"There are certain people that you just meet and you hate. You and Zim hate each other and the only reason you have for that is because Zim is trying to cause destruction for humanity. Yes you don't agree with it and you have good reason to try and stop him but that doesn't mean you two should hate each other. I don't agree with Zim on it and if I need to I will try to stop him but that doesn't mean I hate him. We all have someone we just don't like." She said.

Zim and Dib glared at each other and Dib said, "You've made your point I guess."

Sally and Alex sat outside, as usual but neither ate, well Alex didn't eat. She wasn't hungry. Neither were thrilled to have detention for the next two days. Knowing Dev he'd have them file papers or do something dangerous.

"You're not eating." Sally stated.

"Not hungry." Alex answered.

"Are you sick?" Sally asked her.

"No I'd just rather take my own tonsils out with liquid nitrogen and a straight razor than go to detention with your brother and I know you feel the same way." Alex answered.

"I was thinking of shoving rusty pins into my eyes but what you said works too." Sally said.

"We're pretty morbid when it gets down to it." Alex stated bluntly.

"Yes, yes we are." Sally agreed and tried to coax Alex to eat by eating something herself. It didn't matter to her weather she ate or not but she thought she should at least try. It didn't work.

"Something else on your mind?" Sally asked.

"No why?" Alex asked.

"Because even something like this wouldn't keep you from eating, you're always hungry." She answered. Alex just shrugged and said, "Maybe I am getting sick."

The four sat in silence in the classroom waiting. Alex was back to scribbling in her notebook, Zim was scribbling on his electronic pad and Dib and Sally just talked about a book he was reading and Sally doodled more to her solar system picture.

Dev walked into the room and the door closed with a sharp SNAP.

The four briefly looked up to find out what they were to do.

"Okay, Zim and Dib I want you to alphabetize and file these papers. Just match the name of the students names and put them in their folder in the bottom file cabinet." He said to them. Zim and Dib both grumbled and got up and picked up about four files that were full of papers and went to the file cabinet.

"Alex I want you to clean all of the windows and desks and Sally you can sweep and mop the floor." He said and left the room.

"Wow, thought it would have been worse than this." Alex muttered.

"I know right?" Sally asked.

"Speak for yourselves." Zim grumbled. They had at least come up with a system that seemed to work for them. Zim was alphabetizing and Dib was filing. It didn't take any of them very long to get their stuff done and all ended up finishing at the same time just as Dev walking in.

"Good job, see you tomorrow." He said as they left.

"Anyone else get a feeling he's got something up his sleeve?" Zim asked as they went out the door.

"No." Dib said.

"Yes." Sally and Alex said immediately.

"You two agree with him?" Dib asked.

"What we've thought that since he got here. No one can attract the attention of ever female in the school. Even the staff swoon." Sally said.

"You two don't do that." Dib said.

"We're special cases." Alex answered giving Zim a wave has he went in the direction of his neighborhood. Sally waved to Dib when they parted ways.

"Maybe today wasn't too bad because Dib and Zim were there." Sally answered.

"Probably." She agreed.

"What do you want to eat for dinner?" Sally asked standing in the kitchen.

"I'm not hungry." Alex answered.

"Did you eat something at all today?" Sally asked.

"I had some toast for breakfast. We didn't have much this morning." Alex answered and noticed a worried look on Sally's face and asked, "What?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sally asked.

"I feel fine, I just haven't been hungry today." Alex answered.

"You need about 8,000 calories a day and there has never been a time where you haven't been hungry. I think you're getting sick or something." She answered.


	19. Chapter 19: Zim Helps Sally

Chapter 19 Alex Isn't the Only One that's Sick

"Alex, wake up!" Sally yelled into her room. Alex didn't even respond so she jumped onto the bed and she rolled away.

"Well you're alive so there's that. What's wrong? Usually your alarm clock can get you up." Sally asked.

"Too sleepy." She mumbled in response form her pillow.

"Yesterday you weren't hungry so you ate virtually nothing and now you're too sleepy to get up. You know if you don't get up you'll miss school and miss getting detention over with." Sally said.

"Don't care. Want to sleep." Alex mumbled.

"Are you sure you want to skip school?" Sally asked.

"I don't think I'd be able to stay awake." Alex responded.

"Okay. I'll let Dev know, maybe he can pretend to have a heart and cut you some slack for being sick. Want me to bring Zim by?" Sally asked.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"To see you." She answered.

"Who cares I'm not dying. Don't bring him over." Alex complained.

"Okay, okay I won't" Sally said and added, "Don't forget to eat. Please eat something."

She left the room and headed to school while Alex went back to sleep.

"Hey Mr. Sharp, I thought you should know that Alex is sick, she's not coming to school today." Sally said when she came into the room. She found it odd that she and him were not fighting.

"Alright, I will postpone today's detention for you two until she comes back to school." He said while writing something in his notes. Sally took her seat.

"Where's Alex?" Dib asked.

"She's sick today." Sally answered.

"She gets sick?" Zim asked.

"Yeah. It's rare but even we can get sick just like it's rare for you to be ill." Sally answered. Sally rarely got sick because, like hunger and need for sleep that came slowly, she could get sick but viruses reproduced slowly and were often killed before it affected her.

"What's wrong with her?" Dib asked.

Sally shrugged and said, "I don't know, it's like she had chemotherapy."

"Chemotherapy? Isn't that a really old treatment for cancer?" Dib asked.

"Well old for here, current for where we came from." Sally answered.

"Doesn't it wear the patient out and they don't feel hungry so they don't eat?" He asked.

"Yup, Alex didn't eat at all yesterday and this morning she wouldn't get up because she was too sleepy." Sally explained.

"Alex not hungry? That is weird." Zim muttered. Sally turned to him and asked, "What makes you say that?"

"I just noticed that she eats a lot. She had no problem eat all of Gir's waffles." He answered.

"That's a lot of waffles." Dib muttered.

"She can really eat a lot of food for such a skinny girl." Zim said.

"You have no idea." Sally muttered and turned back to the front as class started. The dragged on just as long as it had the day before. This time Zim, Sally and Dib made it look as if they were taking notes and paying attention when their minds wandered elsewhere.

Once class was over the three quickly left and went to lunch before Dev could call them back. Throughout lunch Sally debated on weather to leave or not but she knew Alex would get mad at her for worrying. She decided to stay; they would be getting a new science project anyways.

"All right students, for your next project you either need a partner in the class or someone to help outside of the class. If you have a partner in the class then you both need to put forth effort but one needs to come in to test it. What I want you to do is come up with some sort of solution that helps take care of something weather it be skin care, hair, nails, with winter coming many people are looking for ways to keep skin and hair hydrated. I want you to either come up with one on your own and have someone to help you tests it or work with someone in the class and both of you tests it." Their science teacher said.

There were very few people in the class since there were very few who were interested in science and smart enough for the class. Alex would have taken it but it was during the same time as Chorus.

Of course Sally and Dib partnered up and everyone else had partners as well, except for Zim but he didn't care. He didn't want a project partner. He did, however go to the teacher to ask her a question.

"Do I really have to work with someone?" Zim asked.

"If you prefer to work alone then you need to find a friends or someone that will be willing to help you test your solution. You need to learn how to work with others because no matter what you do, eventually you will end up working with others no matter how much you do not want to." She said.

"Zim doesn't need anyone!" He declared.

"Maybe you don't on a regular basis but I guarantee you will be working others throughout your life if you haven't already." She answered. He thought back on Impeding Doom I. He did actually have to work with others in the robot but no one else seemed to be impressed by the destruction.

"Fine." He answered and left behind the rest of the students.

Do you want to work at your apartment or at my house?" Dib asked Sally.

"I don't want to bother Alex but I do want to check on her." Sally answered.  
>"Okay then just come by the house when you want, I'll be home." Dib answered and they parted ways.<p>

"Hey Zim, you wanna come with me to visit Alex?" Sally asked noticing that he was nearby.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because you two like each other." Sally said teasingly.

"Zim likes no one!" He declared loudly. Sally rolled her eyes and said, "Right, you two just keep telling yourselves that. Well you know where the apartment is in case you change your mind, we're pretty stupid when it comes to leaving the door and window's unlocked."

She walked off down the road and to the apartment. Zim rolled his eyes and went home.

"Alex?" Sally called and went to her room. Alex was sleeping in her bed.

She pushed her.

"What?" Alex mumbled.

"Have you eaten anything?" Sally asked.

"Not yet, it's only been five minutes." Alex responded.

"It's been nearly eight hours." Sally answered.

"Well I'm not hungry anyways." She responded.

"Alex you have to get up and eat and drink some water." Sally argued.

"I'm not thirsty or hungry. Just sleepy." She argued stretching.

"You will get up and go eat and get some water and we are going to find out what is wrong with you." Sally said pulling her out of bed. Alex dropped to the floor and curled up in her blankets on the floor. Sally sighed and tried to pull Alex up to her feet but Alex resisted and Sally did not succeed.

"Get up." She ordered.

"No, I just want to sleep." A mumble came from the bundle of blankets.

Sally sighed and went to the phone and searched through the phone to find a specific number and dialed. The phone rang a few times before there was an answer.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Zim can you come over and help me?" Sally asked.

"Why?" He demanded.

"Because Alex won't get up to eat or drink any water and I'm not strong enough to actually get her up when she's resisting me." She explained.

"You seem pretty strong to me. You can fly Dib around." He said.

"Most of that strength comes from my wings, not my arms, I have no arm strength. Please help me help Alex, we'll both owe you one." She said.

"Alex already owes me one." Zim answered.

"She'll owe you two and I'll owe you one. Come on she'll be able to help you test your science project. Although that'll take some convincing and promising." Sally said.

"No, I'm sure she'll be fine after she sleeps." Zim said.

"She's been sleeping all night and all day and she didn't eat anything but toast since yesterday. Please Zim, there's something wrong with her and I don't know what and the only think I can think of to do is to get her to eat and drink water but she won't get up and I can't get her up. I just need your help this once and I will be sure to talk her into helping you and then I'll repay you, she'll have repaid you once and she'll still owe you one." Sally said this all in one breath.

"Enough! You've made your point. I will help." He snapped and hung up. Apparently he used the jets on his backpack because he showed up a few minutes later. He had a brace on his leg, it seemed to have healed a lot in just four days; maybe he healed quickly, Sally wondered. She shrugged and said, "Thanks."

"Why couldn't you ask the Dib human to help?" Zim asked.

"He wasn't feeling well, said something about bad meat." Sally answered.

"First Alex, now Dib is sick." He said. Sally shrugged and said, "Maybe it's just a coincidence. Now please shut up and just help me will you? I just want help getting her up so she can eat something."


	20. Chapter 20: Unexpected Trouble

Chapter 20 Unexpected Trouble

"Alex, come on just finish eating then you can go to bed." Sally said.

"There's a bottle in my backpack, I think it's white with a blue lid. Can you get it?" Alex asked her.

"Yeah." Sally got up and went to Alex's room.

"When did you get here?" Alex asked Zim.

"You are tired aren't you?" He asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

"So what's wrong?" He asked her.

"Oh, well it's just a condition I have, it rarely affects me." She answered.

"What is it?" He asked but her head had hit the table and she had fallen asleep again. That was about the fourth time she'd fallen asleep since they'd gotten her off the floor. He nudged her.

"Hm?"

"What is the condition?" He repeated.

"I don't know." She answered as Sally came back with the bottle and said, "What do you need this for? I didn't know you had this."

"Can you get one of the pills out?" Alex asked so Sally did as she asked and handed her a blue pill. She pushed herself up and put the pill in her mouth and swallowed it with water. She then proceeded to fall back to sleep.

"What is that supposed to do?" Zim asked.

"I don't know. I'm assuming it'll help." Sally answered as she followed him to Alex's room while he carried Alex and put her in her bed.

"Well I've helped, you owe me on." Zim said going to leave.

"I know." Sally answered.

"Oh and let me know when you find out what was wrong. I'm curious." He said added and went out the door to the balcony.

"Or worried." Sally muttered, but she couldn't say for sure. She didn't know Zim well. Well no one did really besides Gir and Dib to an extent. Alex knew him better than she did but it also seems that Alex see another side of Zim that even he doesn't notice he has.

Alex woke up about an hour later and sat up stretching. Sally walked in and said, "Hey you're awake."

"Yup." She said sleepily.

"So you seem to have an idea as to what was wrong." Sally stated leaning against the doorframe. Dib was sitting in the living room, they had decided he should come over instead since Sally had still bee worried and Dib's queasiness from the food had settled.

"Um, well at first I didn't know since things like that only happen on rare occasions. Alex said.

"I'm guessing it's some sort of side effect?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's a side effect from a chemical that had been injected into me a week or so before I left. The chemical was supposed to fix the amount of food I needed to, probably about as much as you eat so they wouldn't have to feed me as often to keep me alive or something like that. Obviously it didn't work because they're all idiots but it caused a side affect that comes up every other year or something like that. I stole the medication for it and got the notes for the medication so I could make my own." Alex explained.

"We'll that definitely sucks." Sally answered.

"So sleeping so much do you even remember what happened today?" Sally asked.

"Just eating and taking the meds. I did have an odd dream that Zim had picked me up off the floor and had later carried me back to bed." Alex said.

"Yeah that does sound weird hu?" Sally asked, deciding not to tell her that that had not been a dream.

There was a loud BANG outside causing everyone to jump in surprise.

"What the hell?" Alex asked and went out to the balcony but she couldn't see anything to indicate what caused the noise.

"Okay tell me I was not the only one who had heard that." Alex said.

"No you definitely weren't." Dib said pointing down at everyone. Many people were looking out windows and door or going outside to find the source of the sound.

"Wonder what had caused that." She said.

"What's that up there?" Sally asked pointing to a spot in the sky that looked as if it had shimmered.

"I don't know. It looked like of like when a projection moves or something like that." Dib said.

"I'm going to see if I can get a closer look." Alex said and took off high into eh sky only to fly into something and get shocked.

"Yeowch!" She yelped and flew back.

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"There's something there, like a panel, it shocked me." She said.

"So there's no more sky? Just solid? Are you sure?" Dib asked.

"Of course I'm sure I have the burns to prove it. Whatever it is, it's giving a projection of the sky and likely using a lot of energy and power." Alex said.

"That's really weird." Sally commented.

"Maybe it's those planet jackers." Dib suggested.

"What?" Alex and Sally asked.

"Apparently back during Zim's first year here there was a race most called them the planet jackers that had taken the Earth. When Zim first showed up at my house to borrow the telescope I didn't believe him but what he described about the sky is similar to this." Dib explained.

"Maybe we should go ask him about it then." Alex suggested.

"What? Ask Zim for help?" Dib demanded.

"It's not asking for help, it's asking for his opinion. In case you haven't noticed there's a fake evening sky above us and the only idea we have are planet what's-its-names and Zim seems to be the only one who would know. If this is serious then we need to find out." Sally said.

"I guess you're right." Dib agreed with her.

"Then let's go." Alex said and took off. Sally followed with Dib as they flew to Zim's house and rang the doorbell. The robot-parents answered the door. They were a lot better than they use to be, but they still had some glitches.

"Hello there little girl, what's your name?" The mother asked Alex who stifled a laugh but it came out as a snort. She found it funny because she was an inch or so taller than the robot-mother and yet the mother looked down at Alex's knees.

"Um, hi, I'm Alex. Is your son Zim home?" She said.

"Why yes he is but he is busy right now." She said.

"This is important." Alex insisted.

"Well alright since you're so sweet, come on and your friends too." She said and let them in. Gir sat on the couch eating something and watching TV.

"Hi!" Gir said with a wave and jumped out of his cute disguise.

"Gir, we need to see Zim, can you get him please?" Alex asked.

"Hm, okay! I will take you to him." Gir said.

"We can wait here." She said.

"Or we can go with him." Dib said.

"Dib." Sally said. He sighed.

"Just Alex. Come on I'll show you." Gir said taking Alex's hand and took her to the second room and to a corner where the floor opened up and they dropped and slid through a tunnel that was lit up with blue and white lights. They landed with a crash on the floor.

"Gir, I could have waited up in the house." Alex said.

"Who dares to enter my secret lair?" Zim shouted from across the room and came over on the mechanical spidery legs that came from his backpack. Alex randomly wondered if that backpack had ever come off. She knew based off of helping him with his wounds that it was connected to his back, but she wondered if it could come off. He was indeed more intimidating walking around with those things because they made him taller, it didn't help much that Alex absolutely hated large spiders. If she could see the hairs on it's legs to see it's eyes she wasn't going anywhere near that spider. She pushed her random thoughts to the side. Alex got up and said, "Cool it Zim, it's just me."

"Gir! I told you not to bring anyone down here." He snapped at Gir.

"But it's Alex." Gir said with a smile. Zim sighed and turned to Alex and said, "What are you doing here?"

"We, Sally, Dib and I, ask for your opinion on what is screwed up about the sky." Alex said.

"Why?" He demanded.

"Because Dib said you knew about planet jacker-thinggys." She answered.

"Is that what you think is wrong?" He asked. Alex shrugged and said, "It's the only idea we have, which was why we came to ask you because you obviously know more about this stuff than we do."

"Fine I will take a look." He said and went to one side of the room and sat down.

Alex stayed where she was so she wouldn't be in the way.

"Computer, show me the sky." Zim said and on one of the screens showed the sky with the sun setting. Something odd moved across the sky that was blue in color, exactly what they had seen earlier.

"Take the image of the sky out." He said and it revealed a large metal dome.

"Where is the way out?" Zim asked and the image changed to a large hole in the sky and read some writing on it. Zim growled and said, "Well you're right. The Earth has been stolen again."


	21. Chapter 21: Return of the Planet Jackers

Chapter 21 Return of the Planet Jackers

"Again? So they have taken the Earth before?" Alex asked.

"Yes, they have and I am responsible for this planet's destruction." He said harshly.

"Well someone is certainly determined." Alex commented.

"Silence, your criticism has no effect on me!" He said.

"I wasn't criticizing you. I admire your determination." She answered.

He said nothing for a little bit but when he did he said, "Whatever, come on I don't want you here while I go take care of the Jackers."

"Can't I help?" Alex asked.

"No." He said leading the way to a round platform that took them straight up.

"Why not? You're going to get the Earth from the sphere right? I want to help." She argued.

"And we want to help to." Sally said hearing that part.

"I don't need your help!" He snapped.

"Come on there's safety in numbers, we can do something to help, distraction, destruction, anything." Alex said.

"Alright! Will you stop asking if I let you?" He demanded.

"Yes." They both said.

"Fine. You will need a helmet." Zim said.

"I have some we an use." Dib said

_I wonder if I even need one…I guess I shouldn't take the chance._ Sally thought.

"Who said you were coming along Dib-monkey?" Zim demanded.

"Me. I don't need your permission to help save the Earth, especially since you have been trying to destroy the humans for six years!" Dib argued.

"Like we said, strength in numbers. And sometimes you have to team up with your enemies to achieve a similar goal." Sally said to get them to stop arguing.

"Sally's right and we don't have time for anyone to argue if we want to safe the Earth because it is either where we live or you need it to achieve your mission in Zim's case." Alex said.

"So have a temporary truths." Sally concluded.

"What?" They both started to argue.

"Just do it. Shake hands and declare a temporary truths so we don't have you two arguing." Alex snapped. She didn't like wasting time and their arguing was really grinding on her nerves.

They both gave her a surprised look but did not argue. They stiffly shook hands and said, "Truths…for now."

"Good, now let's go." Sally said. She and Dib left for Dib's house to get the helmets. There was a shift of an Earthquake causing Zim and Alex to fall to the floor.

"This area doesn't have Earthquakes like that." Alex said.

"It's the shift in direction." Zim answered.

"So…you've lived here for a while now. Do you like anything about it here? Anything at all?" Alex asked as they got up off the floor.

"No. I hate everything to do with this stupid filthy planet! I am sick of being here and I will greatly enjoy its destruction. I hate everyone and everything that has to do with this stupid planet. Everyone is inferior and brainless!" He said coldly. Alex did not reply. She simply sat in silence feeling hurt but refused to show it. She consistently reminded herself that she couldn't let it get to her, she had to stay hard as stone like she always did, of course he didn't like anything about Earth, he wasn't from Earth and his race were both smart and technologically advanced.

She felt stupid for even allowing herself to like someone, she had to stay strong and show no weaknesses to anyone. She even hated getting emotional around Sally but it's happened once. She refused to allow herself to let that barrier down again but she had a hard time not feeling hurt by his words. She felt that she at least understood a little, or she tried to, but she still couldn't shake the pain she felt.

_He hates me, simple as that, just accept it and move on with your life Alex. Don't show your hurt just stay strong like always._ Alex thought and kept her face expressionless, although a biting cold blew through in a short gust of wind outside and quickly infiltrated the house just as it did everyone else's.

"Weird weather change." Dib said with a shiver.

"How is it that the weather still changes with a limited atmosphere?" Sally asked.

"I don't know. It's so weird, it's chilly outside but this is different, it's like the biting cold of winter or something." He commented and Sally's mind wandered to Alex, she knew only too well how easily the weather and temperature changed in response to her emotions, weather good or bad.

_What in the world did Zim say to her to make this happen? What emotion causes a biting cold?_ She thought as they flew back to Zim's house. They knocked and Gir answered the door and let them in. Alex and Zim were both on the couch dead silent. Alex sat as far away from Zim as possible and had her stony, expressionless look on her face. The one she forced on herself when trying to keep her emotions in-check. It was obviously not working. Zim sat there just as stiff but he looked more like he was steaming about something.

"Come on, let's get this done with." Dib said. They both got up. Sally handed Alex a helmet and Zim led the way up to where the cruiser was.

Zim and Alex still said nothing. Both seemed to be lost in thought and the cold didn't leave. Sally finally decided to do something and sat next to Alex and nudged her. Alex just gave her a 'hu?' sort of look and was brought aware to the cold.

"You seem out of it." Sally said to her. She just shrugged. The temperature heated up a little bit but there was still a rush of biting cold every-so-often which Dib and Zim both found really weird.

"Oh I meant to tell you our detention was postponed." She added.

Alex nodded and looked through the glass as they came out of the tunnel and into space. The cold went away completely because Alex and Sally both became awed by outer space. They also had a look at the outside of the shell that the Earth and moon were encased in. It was attached to a fairly large ship that was taking it further away from the Earth's spot.

"It's amazing at the power that ship must have to have to move a planet like that, having to fight the sun's gravitational force with a whole planet." Alex commented.

"We're not here to admire it, where here to stop them." Zim snapped.

"Just because your use to this stuff doesn't mean to have to be snappy when others are simply making a comment." Alex said coldly, the temperature dropped about twenty degrees and Zim briefly looked back at her, he suspected that she may have had something to do with the sudden temperature drop but he couldn't be sure, he decided to try something later and see.

"Fine. Sorry to ruin your fun." He said simply.

"Is it just me or has there been a lot of tension between those two since we got back?" Dib asked quietly in Sally's ear. She knew Alex could probably hear but she wasn't sure how good Zim's hearing was.

Sally just nodded in agreement.

"All of you hide and stay hidden until I tell you otherwise." Zim commanded. They decided not to argue and hid as best they could in the small cruiser. All three wore mostly black so even if they couldn't hide well they blended in with the shadows decently.

"Excuse me." Zim said to the Jackers.

"You seem familiar have we met you before?" One of them asked. There were four of the Jackers in the ship as far as they could tell.

"I don't think so." Zim said simply.

"Whatever, do you have a problem?" He asked.

"Yes, this planet has been marked for conquest by the Irken military." Zim said.

"This planet wasn't marked, it's fair game." He said.

"What? That has to be a mistake, I specifically told my Tallest that they needed to re-check the marked planets and they told me that it was marked." He argued.

"And we just got this straight from the Tallest to make sure we had an updated copy." The Jacker responded.

"There must be some mistake." Zim said.

He shrugged and they kept flying.

"Why don't you just cut the shell like you did last time?" Dib asked.

"I am doing that you fool." Zim snapped.

"Chill out." Alex said.

"Watch the progress until it's done and then let me know." Zim said as a bubble formed over his head and he jumped out onto the ship. He stomped around to get their attention and three of them came out.

"He can't take all three of them alone until it's done." Sally said.

"Exactly, which is why I'm going too." Alex said putting her helmet on and pressed the button for the glass to open. She jumped out and shot a small grappling hook from under her jacket sleeve.

"When did she get that?" Dib asked.

"I've learned to just stop asking because she changes each answer every time asked." Sally explained and went back to keeping an eye on Alex and Zim while Dib watched the lazers.

"I do know you. You tried to stop us a little while back." The biggest of the three said to Zim who said, "Not tried, I did because I am responsible for this planets doom, not you."

"And you've brought your little human girlfriend to help too." He added seeing Alex. She gave the guy a skeptical look and said, "Wrong, on both." She delivered a roundhouse hick to the side of the Jacker's head, being able to get her leg that high because of the small amount of gravity. After that, all hell broke loose.


	22. Chapter 22: You Like Zim!

Chapter 22 "You like Zim!"

"Ow. Damn." Alex hissed and got up again.

"Come on how is this fair. Three against two and all three are using weapons and like two times bigger. Unfair." Alex said.

"What are you doing?" Zim demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing? It's called fighting." Alex answered and jumped out of the way and added, "Although I suppose it is fair since we are smarter and you guys are big and slow."

She jumped out of the way of what looked like a club that was charged with electricity.

"That looks like it would hurt if you actually hit someone with it." She commented.

"It's supposed to." The Jacker growled at her.

"Really? I had no idea. And I thought we were dancing with props." Alex said sarcastically.

She could tell that she was making them mad, which was her goal.

"Shut up puny human." One of them growled.

"I told you idiot that you're wrong. I may look human but that doesn't mean I am completely human." She said and tripped one with their own club. She did not find that to be the best idea since it shocked her but he had fallen right on it.

"Yeow!" She hissed from the shock. It left red burns but she ignored them as she jumped back into the fighting. The Jacker that Alex had tripped had gotten back up and it was three to two again, Alex and Zim were not doing so well now. All three of the Jackers were bigger than they were and lack of gravity didn't offer them much help in being small and faster.

"I'm going to help." Sally said seeing what was happening.

"Okay." Dib answered taking the pilots seat as the door opened and closed behind Sally.

She figured out a way to use her wings to propel her forward and grabbed the helmet of one of the Jackers and threw him over her head.

"When we're done here you have to teach me how you managed that." Alex said to her. Alex's main downfall was that she got distracted very easily, that was no exception when she was knocked to the side hard and hit some part of the ship. She was either just very dizzy or unconscious.

Sally noticed an angry look cross Zim's face and resisted the urge to smile in amusement. She knew he would never admit that he was mad because they had hurt Alex.

Dib contacted Zim and said, "Hey Zim, it's done."

"Come on Sally. I think we're done here." Zim said. He still looked pissed off. He helped Alex up; she was okay it seemed, just very disoriented. The cruiser came around to get them.

"Get out of my spot!" Zim shouted at Dib who could tell how mad Zim seemed and quickly moved. Alex and Sally both sat somewhere random as Zim flew the cruiser back to Earth.

"Do they even know that they were taking the same planet?" Sally asked.

"I doubt it. They aren't very bright otherwise they would have just moved to another planet by now instead of throwing planets to fuel their sun." Zim answered.

"They may be stupid, but if they notice, we're in trouble." Dib said. They all looked out one of the windows to see that they were still going.

"I think it'll be okay." Alex answered.

"I didn't need your help by the way." Zim said after a little bit of silence as the ship landed in the house.

"And yet you still let us help." Ale said coldly.

"Because I knew you wouldn't leave me alone unless I did let you help." He argued.

"Hey they would have probably beaten you to a pulp if we weren't there to help. From what I can tell against just one of them last time you took a serious beating, three would have killed you." Alex argued.

"I can take care of myself. I don't need help from Earthlings." He snapped.

"You are just too stubborn to accept help from us or from anyone. Sometimes you have to accept help to get what you need done. You've told me before that Invaders need no one well that's not true, you have help from Gir and you've needed help before I'm sure. You're just too stubborn to admit it." She snapped. Sally and Dib stood by not wanting to get in the middle of this.

"I don't want help from an irritating mutant freak like you." He said hatefully.

That struck Alex into silence. A breeze of biting cold blew though the window and her words were as cold as ice when she said, "Then don't ever expect any kind of help from me ever again. I don't care how many times I owe you. Don't expect any kind of help from me again."

She walked by him cold vapor literally pouring from Alex's head. As she walked by him with a cold glare he felt his shoulder become colder than the air around them.

_A literal meaning being brought to the phrase 'giving the cold shoulder.' Guess there was something she really didn't like that I said._ Zim thought as Sally and Dib left as well.

"What was that? Was that vapor coming off of her head like dry ice or something?" Dib asked Sally.

"Um yeah. I'll have to explain that later, but right now, I think I should talk to her. I'll see you later" Sally said to him and they two went their separate ways. Sally caught up to Alex and walked with her in silence.

_Man and they were doing so well lately, not even having petty arguments._ Sally thought as they walked and said, "So, uh what was it that Zim had said that made you mad earlier?"

"He said he hated everyone and everything to do with this planet." She answered simply. The vapor had gotten warmer and changed to steam but the temperature was still a biting cold, more so than usual.

"So biting cold equals hurt?" Sally asked. Alex just shrugged and said, "I guess so, since biting cold is, well, biting and painful."

"Yeah I guess so. " She said with a shrug. She steamed a little longer and it all just completely stopped. The weather changed back to what it was supposed to be and Alex's expression went from anger to blank. She had successfully bottled up her emotions like always.

"You know sometimes it does help to let it out." Sally said.

"Says the chick who shows absolutely nothing in fear of hurting someone if you show your true sour and sarcastic attitude when they tick you off." Alex responded.

"Touché." Sally answered with a sigh.

"You are right. I guess letting it out could make you feel better. You should take your own advice sometimes too, but I guess both of us are still learning the ways of the unconfident emotional teenage girl." Alex responded.

"Or in some cases overconfident emotional girl." Sally added. Alex giggled a little and said, "Yeah, and the then rest who sit in the middle."

"Yup." She agreed.

"Don't let what Zim said get to you okay? He's probably just homesick and stubborn. You're not a freak anymore than I am." Sally said and thought about it and said, "…Wait."

Alex laughed and said, "Says the only one that is from Hell with a good heart."

"Yeah I guess I didn't think that through since I'm considered a freak by my relatives." She agreed.

"Well I don't think you're a freak." Alex said.

"And I don't think you are either." Sally agreed.

"And we are all the family each other needs."

"Exactly." Sally agreed as they closed the door behind them.

"I have to know. Are you ever going to talk to Zim?" Sally asked after a few minutes.

"I'm still mad at him, so not right now. Maybe if he figures out that he's being a stubborn idiot then fine, but even if he does figure that out, he still probably doesn't care. Like I said, he hates everything to do with this planet, that includes hating me so I doubt he cares and if he doesn't then why should I?" She said.

"You do care." Sally stated.

"I know." Alex said with a little bit of wining in her tone.

"I care weather he hates me or not and I don't like it. Why should I care? I've never cared if someone hated me or not. Well I care if you do but family is different." She said.

"Because you L-O-V-E him." Sally said teasingly.

"I do not love him." Alex said simply.

"Fine, you at least like him, a lot." She said.

"I know. It sucks." Alex admitted after several minutes of silence. She had been contemplating weather to actually admit it aloud or not.

"Wait, did you just admit to liking him?" Sally asked.

"Maybe." Alex answered.

"Oh you did! You like Zim don't you?" Sally asked.

"I just said I did, didn't I?" Alex demanded.

"You like Zim! You like Zim! You like Zim!" Sally skipped around singing.

"Shut up! Right now I don't cause he's being a stubborn ass." Alex said loudly.

"Hm, good point but you can't say much since you're stubborn and you have an attitude problem and lack of respect problem." Sally said.

"No I don't respect people who try and control me and don't give me good arguments to my questioning." Alex said.


	23. Chapter 23: Heart to Heart

Chapter 23 Heart to Heart

For nearly two weeks Alex did not speak to Zim at all, she didn't even acknowledge his presence. Likewise Zim said nothing or acknowledge that Alex was there either and somehow, their ignoring each other created a lot of tension and silence that weighed heavy around them. Sally and Dib both tried to ignore it until Friday of the second week when Dib pulled Sally back after school.

"I can't stand it anymore, those two need to talk to each other be…whatever they were, again." Dib said.

"I'm going to assume friends since they're too stubborn to admit they like each other." Sally answered.

"Really? They do?" Dib asked. Sally rolled her eyes and said, "Well since you don't pay attention the way I do I'm not surprised that you didn't notice."

"But I do agree with you they both radiate tension and I'm tired of it. My vote is we lock them in a room and go see a movie and come back to see if they've made any progress." Sally said.

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Dib agreed.

"Then it's a date." Sally said, she didn't actually mean to say that but he didn't seem to mind, he smiled and said, "It's a date."

They made plans for Saturday, it would be easy to talk Alex into going where they needed her to, Zim was another story.

There was a building that Dib's family owned that wasn't used. Professor Membrane let Dib use it mostly so Sally talked Alex into going with her to check it out while Dib went to go get Zim. How he got Zim was pester and provoke him until he chased him down.

It took a bit for it to really work but eventually Zim was so irritated that he did in fact chase Dib down. Dib ran into the designated room that had some lights on, a vent so air could circulate but otherwise there was only the one door and one window. Once Zim was in the room. Sally and Dib stood at the door.

"You two need to work out your problems, there is a lot of tension and uncertainty between you two, both of you can feel it and we can too, fix your problems or come to some sort of mutual agreement." Sally said.

"We have, we aren't talking to each other. That is plain." Alex said.

"You know what I mean. I feel bad for doing this but you two need to talk this out. Talk to each other about what the other did to piss each other off and work from there." Sally said.

"What you're locking us in a room with each other? That's not a good idea we'd probably kill each other before we worked out the problem." Zim said.

"Sally you know how I am in enclosed places." Alex said.

"I know which is why there is a window, it's not crowded, and the room it a good size and we'll be right down the hall. I'll come back to check on you two in a little while. But this is the only way we can think of to get you two to talk to each other without having an excuse to leave." Sally explained.

"They're crazy." Zim said.

"Yes, they are." Alex agreed.

"See you two are already agreeing with each other again." Sally said closing the door.

"This is crazy you know." Dib said.

"I know. I never said I was sane when getting to know each other now did I?" Sally asked.

He chuckled and said, "I guess not."

They walked down the hall to a separate room and watched a movie.

"Your friend is insane." Zim said.

"I know. But I guess they're right. We need to work something out or we're going to suffocate ourselves from the tension." Alex said.

"I accept your apology." Zim said.

"I should apologize? I wasn't the one that was all huffy because we helped you and I didn't call you a mutant freak!" Alex snapped heatedly. The room temperature rose in response and storm clouds outside rolled in.

_Fast weather change, I'll have to ask about that._ Zim thought.

"You're mad because I called you that? Since when do you get mad when someone calls you names?" Zim demanded.

"That specific one is linked to bad times okay? It's one of the few things I don't tolerate being called." Alex said simply.

"Bad times? Like what?" He asked.

"None of your business. I don't go asking you why you have a stick up your ass about doing everything with just you and Gir do I?" Alex snapped. Thunder rumbled outside.

"What's with you and Sally being so protective of your past hm? Everytime something comes up like that either the answers are short, fake or both." He said.

"We don't like our pasts what's your point?" Alex asked bluntly.

"It's more than that. Why do you shut everyone out when they ask? Why don't you ever talk about your parents hu?" He asked.

"Why are you so set on doing everything alone? Why are you so obsessed with your mission hu?" Alex retaliated.

"Because I am trying to prove my worth as an invader, I can't allow the Tallest to find out that Earthlings helped me with anything." He said and added, "Now why don't you ever talk about your parents?"

"Because my parents sold me to lunatic scientists when I was born. They put bird DNA in me as an embryo and my parents sold me to them when I was born. I've never met them and I have no urge to." Alex answered simply.

"Oh." He said.

"What about you? Do you have parents?" Alex asked.

"Of course the robot parents." He said.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." She said.

"Well, no not really, we're born from large tubes, a machine wakes us up into the world." He said.

"That sucks." She answered.

"It's not very different from not knowing your parents." He said.

"I guess not but I still had a chance of having parents. Seems being an Irken there's no chance really." She said.

He was silent for a little bit.

"So originally you were supposed to be born human, that bird part wasn't actually natural?" He asked.

"Nope. Added, was raised 2% Avian and 98% human. Avian hybrid." She answered simply.

"And you can't stand being called a mutant freak because…?"

"Because many that I don't like always called me that. When it's someone I consider a friend, it just hurts." She said blankly.

"But enough about me. Seems you've had a lot of hard times hu? Why are you so desperate to prove your worth? Why should you need to?" She said changing the subject.

"Well, in Impending Doom One I destroyed a lot of our own planet. I seem to be the only one impressed by it." He said.

"How much of your own planet?" Alex asked.

"Most of the surface part of the planet." He answered.

"Impressive, single handedly?" She asked.

"Not completely but for the most part it was me. I was in charge of the robot." He said.

"Not a very good thing to happen but impressive all the same." She commented.

"Exactly!" He said.

Sally and Dib continued to watch the movie; both were surprised by the fact that they didn't hear any fighting.

"So the weather seems to change rapidly when you express emotion. Is that just some weird coincidence or do you have something to do with it?" Zim asked her giving her a 'don't you dare try to lie' sort of expression.

"Well some of us hybrids have a few…supernatural abilities. I can usually keep my emotions in check, but they have an effect on the weather." Alex said.

"So what was with the biting cold a few weeks back?" Zim asked.

"Nothing." Alex said a little too quickly.

"Uh hu, right." He said.

"It doesn't matter. I thought I was done answering your questions?" Alex asked quickly.

"Right, right." He said.

"Um, so we both know what we did to tick each other off and we now know how to avoid that specific area. Although if I feel the need to help you then you might as well save your energy and just let me help okay? I promise your leaders won't know. I know how I can keep Gir quiet if he decides to tell." Alex said.

Zim growled a little and was silent for a long time.

"Fine." He agreed.

Alex gave a small smile and said, "See? That wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Yes it was." He said through gritted teeth. She giggled and said, "So are we okay? Considering the fact that you hate me, are we at least on, less tense, terms?"

"What makes you think I hate you?" He asked slightly surprised.

"You said so yourself. You hate everyone and everything to do with Earth." She said. Realization crossed his expression and he said, "Oh…right… Alex, I, um I don't hate you. I actually-

"Hey how are you two doing?" Sally asked, poking her head in.


	24. Chapter 24: NerveWracking

Chapter 24 Nerve-Wracking

*Sorry for the update being 2 days late

"Oh I see you two were talking, sorry, I'll just leave." Sally said closing the door.

"What were you saying Zim?" Alex asked him. She was hoping that he would say that he liked her; she wouldn't see why he would though.

_A girl can be hopeful right? Even if it is probably pointless._ She thought.

"Oh. Yeah like I said, I don't hate you, I just wasn't thinking when I said I hated everyone and everything." He said trailing off.

"Oh okay. Well I think Sally left the door unlocked so we don't have to be stuck in here anymore." She said and opened the door.

"Good." Zim said and the two walked out of the room and looked down the hallways.

"Now the question is, which way do we go?" Alex said.

"Not sure. Maybe we should try to find Sally and ask her." Zim said. They walked down the hallway and looked into all of the rooms but none had Sally or Dib in them.

"Hm, maybe we should try the other end of the hall." Alex suggested so they turned around and headed back and opened doors to try and find them.

"Found them." Zim said and the two poked their head into a room where they were sitting on a couch and watching a movie.

"Weird place to have a movie date don't you think?" Alex asked walking into the room. The two just shrugged.

"How do we get out of this labyrinth of a building?" Zim asked.

"Oh you two have made up?" Dib asked.

"Yes." Alex and Zim said at the same time.

"We want to leave now." Alex said.

"Okay, okay. Come on." Sally said and the two got up and led the way out of the building.

"What is this place used for?" Alex asked.

"It was used for smaller experiments my dad and his coworkers conducted." Dib said.

"Is it still sued for that stuff?" Zim asked.

"No. They moved to a larger place when the experiments became more dangerous and the machines were larger." He explained.

"So what it's just a random abandoned building?" Alex asked.

"Yup. Good thing the sterile smell went away hu?" Sally asked.

"Yeah." Alex agreed as they continued walking. They walked through the streets in silence. The entire area was quiet and it gave all of them a bad feeling.

"This is really weird. It's only like seven in the evening, why is it so quiet?" Dib asked.

"Maybe it's just this area." Sally suggested.

"Maybe." He agreed but he didn't seem too reassured.

"We should all go on the beach and have lunch tomorrow." Sally declared seriously. Alex had noticed that she had been a lot more bubbly and happy than she'd ever seen Sally. She didn't pay much attention to it until now but there was defiantly a difference now that she compared. Alex noticed a change in herself as well. She was much more relaxed than normal and she was more bubbly herself and was able to completely focus on one thing at a time instead of paying attention to everything.

"Whom are you referring to?" Alex asked.

"All four of us, duh." She said.

"You're crazy." Zim said.

"Yes, yes that's not new to anyone here but come on. Just a few hours of all of us spending time together without you two arguing or getting into some kind of fight." Sally said.

"You're still crazy. I'm busy anyways." Zim answered.

"Sorry Sally but I'm helping my dad tomorrow so I can't go either." Dib said.

"Aw fine but we will have a day where all four of us can hang out without you two fighting in any way. It may be entertaining for us most of the time, but there are times when it gets annoying." She answered.

Alex heard something, wings beating above. She looked up but could see nothing. They were passing under a streetlight so she couldn't see anything in the night above it until they had passed it but the only thing she could see were glowing red eyes, just like Sally's when she allowed enough power to be released freely.

_Why is he following us? Is he seriously creeping on his sister by stalking her? That is so wrong on so many levels._ Alex thought. She could tell that he knew that she could see him and saw his white teeth showing in a devil grin. He had fun just messing with them, seeing them trying so hard to figure out the other reason he was there.

Alex wasn't paying attention to where she was walking since she was staring up at the night sky and ended up walking too slowly. Zim walked right into her.

"What are you staring at?" He asked.

"Oh, sorry just thought I saw a big bird or something." Alex answered.

"Oh! Was it a Dodo bird?" Sally asked, knowing exactly whom Alex had seen.

"They can't fly remember?" Alex asked.

"Oh right." She agreed.

"You had Dodo birds back home?" Dib asked.

"Long before our time; they were extinct." Sally explained.

"Oh okay." He answered.

"Well see you two later." Alex said once they got to the road their apartment building was on.

Dib and Zim both gave a wave and continued on.

"Your brother is a creeper you know that?" Alex said.

"He is many things and does much, creeper and creeping are things that can definitely describe him." Sally said.

"Mhm." Alex agreed.

While Alex and Sally walked home, Dib and Zim both walked in silence. Neither felt the need to say anything and they didn't feel awkward in staying silent. Alex and Sally both looked back and watched them for a few seconds to try and see if they were talking. When they noticed that they weren't they went back to walking home.

"Hey at least they're not fighting." Alex said.

"Why do you keep following Zim?" They heard behind them.

"My neighborhood it in this direction just like yours is you should know that by now!" Dib argued.

"You had to say 'at least' didn't you? You had to use it." Sally said.

"Whoops. My bad." She said with a shrug.

"So you saw Dev flying around?" Sally asked.

"Yeah he was watching you like a creepy stalker." Alex answered.

"No he just gives off that vibe all the time, people who don't know him for what he really is don't notice it. Straight males and lesbians aren't attracted to him but they still have a hard time noticing the evil. Most of the time they just don't like him without conscious reasoning." Sally explained.

"Man your world is confusing." Alex said.

"Says you." She responded.

"What I don't get is, why are you the only one that was born and raised in Hell that has a good heart?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there is good in magic, or at least that is my guess for now." She answered.

"Well whatever the cause or reason, I'm glad you are because I have you as my best friend." Alex answered and gave her an awkward hug. Neither of them really hugged and they had never actually given anyone, including each other, a real hug.

"Reason? I doubt there's any reason for it." Sally said.

"But what if God wanted you to make a change in Hell? What if he wanted the demons to change so that, instead of wanting to tempt people, they no longer do that since most of the time they have no problem with being tempted and all of the truly bad people are more separated and what if this is a way of giving demons a second chance. If he has a good demon being born then maybe if they listen to you then things can change." She suggested.

"Sorry Alex but that's not how things work, I'm just a fluke in my world just as my dad was a fluke in his before he was cast out, just like other fallen angels, we're flukes and I'm just the first one to come up in Hell." Sally answered simply as they walked down the hall they lived on.

"So you're an outcast. Why didn't you make friends with fallen angels?" Alex asked.

"None of them would have anything to do with me. Those on Satan's side, well there on my dad's side so of course they don't like me because I'm not with him and those still on God's side, well they don't like me either because I'm still demon technically and I'm not on God's side either. I haven't found and fallen angels who haven't chosen a side." She explained.

"There has to be at least one." Alex said.

"I guess so, but I don't care I'm perfectly happy here with you and Dib as my friends and Zim as…. an acquaintance." Sally said. She never really had an idea as to where she and Zim stood. Obviously he and Alex were friends, but she had no idea where she and him stood, just as Alex wasn't sure where she and Dib stood, the two seemed happy with acquaintances though.

"So what's the deal with your brother? I know your dad sent him to see if this world was good for you, but he seems to have something else planned too." Alex said.

"I'm not sure yet. He's predictable in the sense that it's obvious he has something planned, but nearly impossible to guess exactly what that plan is. It's very nerve-racking." She answered.


	25. Chapter 25:Preparing for Holiday Parties

Chapter 25 Preparing for Holiday Parties

*I am extending the length of each chapter because I feel that they are too short, but that's just me, so yeah it'll take me longer to update but I will try my best to update every other day or so (even if that is not really working for me at the moment).

"Finally Winter break is here! We have to drag Zim and Dib over for a party." Sally said.

"I'm sure it'll be easy to get Dib over, all you have to do is bat your lashes a little and give a smile and ask him." Alex said jokingly.

"I do not have to do that. I ask, if he's not busy he usually says okay but if he's busy then he'll tell me. Simple." Sally argued.

Alex shrugged.

"And you need to talk Zim into coming." Sally added.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Because I want all four of us to hang out and at least act like we like each other, plus you have a Christmas present for him don't you?" Sally asked.

"Well yeah but I can go to his house and give it to him." Alex answered.

"No! We both have the week of Christmas and New Year's off of work we have to have Dib and Zim over for a party or something. Some day where we can get them to not argue and have some fun, they're too uptight sometimes." Sally said flicking Alex on the nose.

"Hey!" She protested.

"Now go and talk Zim into coming." Sally said.

"Okay, okay, when do you want to do this anyways?" Alex asked.

"Hm, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. Now off with you." Sally said pushing her out the door and following behind her. She locked the door and continued to push Alex down the hall and into the elevator.

"The elevator? Sally we can both fly, let's just fly." Alex said.

"Aw come on we always fly. Let's walk like normal people." Sally said.

"Flying is fun and we might as well take advantage of the fact that we can." Alex argued but the elevator doors had already closed and started to go down.

Sally gave Alex one last shove in the direction of Zim's neighborhood as she walked down the street toward Dib's.

When Dib opened the door he wasn't really expecting Sally there.

"Hi! Alex and I are having a little party for Christmas and New Years, you wanna come?" Sally asked with a small smile.

"When is it?" He asked.

"Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve." She answered.

"And knowing you, you sent Alex to get Zim and this is part of a ploy to get us to have a day or two to get along." He concluded.

"You're learning, but I just want us to have some fun. But if you have other plans that's okay." Sally said.

"No. I don't really have other plans. I'll go." He said.

She smiled a little and said, "Great, I'll call you when we figure out times."

"Okay." He answered.

"See you later." She said with a wave and headed back down the sidewalk and down the road feeling a little giddy. Dib was coming even if Zim might be there.

Alex walked down the sidewalk, ignoring the creepy lawn gnomes that followed her every move. They still creped her out, but she was learning to ignore them since; so far they haven't bothered her. She rang the doorbell and immediately a hole opened up under her feet before she even had time to open her wings and stop herself from falling.

She slid through a pitch-black tunnel and it reminded her of a water slide she had been on called "The Dark Hole" the difference, no water and no idea where she was going to end up. She found out soon enough when she landed on, what at first she thought was a net, but couldn't get up and realized it was more like a web.

"Zim!" She shouted sounding irritated through the dark room. She heard movement, more specifically metal; the same sound his mechanical spider leg thingy's made when Zim used them.

"Zim! I know you're there and I know you can hear me. Get me out of this web-thing!" She shouted.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" She heard Zim call back as the sound came closer and she could make out his form. The room was dimly lit so she had a little bit of trouble seeing him until he got closer.

"What the heck? You couldn't have answered the door?" Alex demanded.

"I'm busy, you've been down to this part of the base before so I saw no reason in going to answer the door." He responded and cut the webbing. Alex landed on her feet and pulled what was left, off.

"But really? A web? Is that actually necessary? Wouldn't it be easier to just have a trampoline or a cushion or something that people don't stick to?" She asked.

"It keeps you out of my way." He said.

"I don't like webs, I don't like being restrained or being restricted in any way." She answered.

"So I've noticed, but you do not have to be so loud." He said.

"You're one to talk." Alex responded teasingly.

"What does that mean?" He asked going back to what he was doing. She followed.

"Often when you use your name, talk in third person or something like that, you're pretty loud yourself." She explained. He just shrugged. Of course he wouldn't notice it himself.

"So what are you working on?" She asked looking over his shoulder. She was actually able to do that since she was only a few inches shorted.

"Um, nothing. Can you get back please?" Zim demanded.

"Yeah sure, don't need to be snippy." Alex said backing up.

"Why are you here?" Zim asked.

"Oh right. Sally and I are having our own little Christmas and New Year's parties and I was wondering if you wanted to come." She answered.

"I have no interest in attending." He said simply.

"Come on, you might have fun." Alex said.

"Party!" Gir shouted and started running around in circles yelling the word 'party' over and over.

"Enough!" Zim shouted at him.

"Well if you change your mind, they're at our house, first one is Christmas Eve and Gir can come along too." Alex said.

"Whatever." He said.

"How do I get out of here?" Alex asked.

"Gir, show Alex the way out." Zim said simply while not looking up from his project. Whatever it was, Alex figured that it had to be something important for him to be so focused on it. She followed Gir to an elevator that opened through the trashcan.

"Elevator trashcan, weird." She commented and gave Gir and hug and went out the door. The gnomes followed her every move as she walked down the sidewalk.

Zim watched the monitors as Alex left and let out a sigh of relief. She had come at the worst time and had almost seen what he had been working on.

"You should go master. It would make her happy!" Gir said jumping around.

"I have no reason to go to something so stupid." Zim answered.

Gir proceeded to scream and cy the way he often did when Zim rejected him. It lasted longer than usual before Zim shouted, "Silence! I'm not going Gir!"

"Then we can have it here! I can decorate. This is going to be so much fun. We can call them and tell them and I'll get streamers, glitter and make a cake." Gir said.

"No! We are not having any kind of party here!" Zim snapped.

"Then we should go to there's. If not we have it here!" Gir responded smiling.

"Fine! We'll go." Zim growled.

"We can make Alex a present!" Gir said jumping around.

"Why?" Zim demanded.

"She's nice." Gir said.

"So? What's your point?" Zim asked.

"And you like her." Gir added with a grin and stared blankly at him and the started dancing around and yelling, "I'm dancing like a monkey!"

Zim let out a sigh and said, "No I don't."

"Yes you do!" Gir said jumping up and squishing Zim's face in his hands and standing on his chest.

"Stop it Gir! That is utter nonsense!" Zim snapped. He had admitted it to himself that he may like the bird human a little bit and he had almost told her that himself, but he refused to openly admit it to anyone else. He found it odd that two bird humans happened to become friends even though they appeared to have different backgrounds but he knew that they were not the same genetic wise. Alex had told him that she had been genetically modified; he suspected that Sally was not.

Alex walked through the door and was a little surprised to see that Sally was home and was braiding her long pale-blonde hair back so that it didn't get in the way when she baked. That was the reason Alex just grabbed a pair of scissors and hacked off her gold-blonde hair to right above her shoulders so she didn't have to deal with putting it back in a ponytail or in Sally's case, braid and then put it up in a bun or something like that.

"Have you ever cut your hair a day in your life? Or had it cut?" Alex asked her.

"Yea, why?" Sally asked.

"Because it's almost to your ankles and it seems like a hassle to have to braid it and then put it up just to keep it out of the way." Alex answered.

"My hair always stays at this length. I don't know why to be honest but my guess is something about magic and my mom cause her hair is always the same length too but, it just does. Watch." Sally answered and grabbed the scissors Alex used to chop off her hair when it got too long and cut about halfway up the braid. In about a minute all of it had grown back to the length it was before and stopped. She threw the lock of hair into the trash.

"So what're you up to?" Alex asked.

"Just making some sweets and stuff for the party." She answered.

"The party isn't for another three days." Alex said.

"I know but might as well start now." Sally answered.

"Assuming the people that we invite show up there will only be five of us." She answered.

"Ah but Gir eats a lot just like you do." Sally pointed.

Alex had nothing to come back with that so she said, "Touché. Okay then I'll help."

They spent about an hour making stuff and stored them away so they would be okay for the next few days.

"So are Zim and Gir coming?" Sally asked.

"I don't know. Zim said he didn't want to, but Gir will likely try to talk him into it." Alex answered.

"Uh Alex? You have something on the back of your jacket." Sally said and pulled off a strand of thick spider silk.

"Damn it. I thought I got all of it off." Alex hissed.

"When did you run into a giant spider web? Are there seriously spiders big enough to make this? This could hold a freight train." Sally asked.

"Oh, Zim had it at the opening of a tunnel that had opened up at my feet when I rang the doorbell. He said it was there to keep me out of the way, you not from look at his stuff and asking what it does. But I was yelling for him to get me out of it so he did. He seemed very distracted, he didn't call me worm-monkey or anything like that." Alex explained.

"Probably working on something for his next scheme." Sally answered.

"Most likely. Well time to do some decorating." Alex said pulling out the few decorations they had and both of them moved on to that.

"Glitter." Sally said pulling out a bag of glitter.

"No glitter." Alex said frankly.

"Why?" Sally asked.

"Because glitter is the herpes of the art world. You cannot get rid of it. I still find glitter in my hair from when you dumped a bowl of it over my head on Halloween during the first month we had met. That was nearly two years ago. No glitter, we'll never get rid of it." Alex said simply.

"It wasn't that bad." Sally said.

"It fell into my food for a month from my hair. Even if you couldn't see all of it, every time I took a shower it was glittery for four months. How so much glitter fit into that bowl I will never know but I still find glitter on some clothes and in my hair." Alex said rolling her eyes.

"But it was funny. The look on your face was priceless." Sally said.


	26. Chapter 26: Christmas Party

Chapter 26 Christmas Party and Zim's Gifts

*It has been brought to my attention (again) that at least one of my readers(*cough, cough* Reuben) is wanting more information about Sally's brother and the rest of her family, I am purposely leaving their information just hanging there for the time being and will bring them in more and explanations with them and so on, in the next part of the series (it will have a different title though, sort of like separate books to the same series). Also I have discovered a little more about some unfinished episodes from the series and some of them reveal more of Zim's past that I will likely bring in.

*I keep forgetting to say, "Thank you to those who review! I love you! I also love all of my readers!"

"Sally! Sally!" Alex shouted trying to wake Sally up who seemed to be having a nightmare. She woke up and sat up quickly.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked her after Sally realized where she was and calmed down.

"Yeah, just a nightmare." Sally answered.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Well it was springtime based off of the weather, unless you were just in a very good and warm mood, which I doubt cause the skies were cloudy as if storms were coming and there were Irkens. They show up and start enslaving all of the humans, and Zim, he was so angry for some reason. It was terrifying how angry he was, he looked insane." Sally said.

"That doesn't sound good at all." Alex said.

"And I didn't know where you were. You had gone missing or something. There was so much destruction and everything was so depressing and dark." She added.

"Hope that's not real." Alex answered.

"Me too." She answered but she wasn't so sure, it seemed so real to her.

"Well let's not think about that stuff right now, we have an apartment to clean before tonight." Alex said.

"Why does that matter so much? They've been here before." Sally said.

"We just need to." Alex said shrugging and left the room.

"And for all we know it'll just be Dib and Gir." Sally added.

"Oh well. It's not like we have a lot to clean anyways." Alex called and started to do some cleaning.

Meanwhile Gir was still trying to talk Zim into going to the little party.

"No Gir." Zim said. He had been working on various things for his next plan and intended to carry it out soon. Gir screamed but this time Zim completely ignored him. He had been thinking about it the past few days and concluded that it wasn't a good idea. He had been very distracted and couldn't allow Alex to distract him from his mission any longer. He had been delayed enough because of Dib the past several years; he couldn't allow any more delays or distractions.

Gir stopped screaming when his stuffed pig distracted him. Zim went back to working and continued to do so even after Gir left for Alex and Sally's house. He activated Gir's surveillance systems so he could at least see what was going on. He needed to find out what he could do to keep the three of them out of his way for his next plot, he considered putting Gaz in danger because Dib would come to her rescue. Although Zim did not have a death wish so that was out.

Alex answered the door when she heard the knock; hope rising of the possibility that Zim had decided to come after all. It fell considerable when she didn't see him there, but Gir was there and she liked Gir so she was happy with that as well.

"Hi Gir, glad you decided to come." Alex said letting him in. He jumped out of his disguise and hugged Alex's head.

"Gir, I can't see." Alex said.

Gir just laughed hysterically and dove to hug Sally.

"Hi Gir, glad you made it. Guessing Zim is being a loser and not coming?" Sally asked.

"Yup, he looked real busy when I left." Gir said.

"That's okay." Alex answered.

Sally just shrugged and went to the kitchen and pulled food out. Gir immediately attacked it, as there was another knock on the door. Alex answered it and let Dib in.

"Hey Dib." Alex said.

"Hey Alex." Dib answered. Neither were exactly friends, but they didn't have a problem with each other.

Dib noticed that Gir was there but Zim wasn't and asked. "Guess Zim isn't coming."

"Doesn't seem he is." Alex answered.

"Hey Dib!" Sally called from the kitchen. Dib smiled and called back, "Hi Sally!" Alex noticed that he was holding a gift and asked, "Oh you got Sally a gift hu?"

A sheepish look crossed Dib's face and he said, "Um, yeah."

"She has one for you too so you don't have to be embarrassed. You can put it under the little tree." Alex answered indicating the small tree on the coffee table. He set it on the table and asked, "You got Zim something?"

"Hm? Oh, um yeah, but since it seems he's not coming I'm just going to take it by his house tomorrow." Alex answered.

Zim was still watching through Gir's eyes while working on various things for his plan.

_Hm, perhaps I can use Sally to keep them out of the way. Alex is her best friend and Dib certainly cares for her._ Zim thought while working and his attention had been brought back to the monitor when he heard his name from Dib.

Alex would be coming by? Maybe he could use that to his advantage towards his plans instead. He continued to think things over while working.

"Well even if Zim doesn't come tonight, you can try talking him into coming for New Years." Sally said.

"I know." Alex said while going to her room and came back with a purple electric guitar and a small portable amplifier.

"I think some Christmas music is in order." Alex said sitting on the futon cross-legged and sat her guitar on her lap and started with "Carol of the Bells."

"Love that song." Sally said.

"What song is it? It sounds familiar." Dib asked and both of them gave him a questioning look.

"Carol of the Bells." Alex answered. He was still confused so she started over and sang the lyrics. He showed no real recognition but said, "I think the words are different."

"Well our previous dimension seems to be parallel but it would have taken place a long time ago for you all. The words probably changed or something." Alex answered.

"I guess so." He answered.

"More food." Sally said.

"Okay, your turn to socialize with your boyfriend. My turn to fix food." Alex said getting up and pushed Sally out of the kitchen who was blushing as much as Dib was.

_That's what you get for playing that music with Zim around._ Alex thought while picking up what she had been working on while Sally and Dib sat on the futon talking about who knows what.

Zim continued to watch and let out a soft laugh when Alex referred to Dib as Sally's boyfriend and both of them were severely embarrassed.

"That's what you two get for locking us in a room together." He muttered and continued to watch although Gir had decided to help Alex cook and bake while eating much of the food along the way so most of the time he ended up watching Alex without even meaning to.

"Do you like master?" Gir asked Alex.

"What?" Alex asked. Zim scoffed he knew Alex has very good hearing, she had heard Gir correctly.

"Master. Do you like him?" Gir asked.

"What do you mean by like?" Alex asked.

Gir stared at her for a little bit and he became distracted and ran off. Throughout the party they mostly ate, talked and watched movies. Gir and Dib both left after the movie even thought Dib had tried to help Alex and Sally clean up but they both shooed him away.

"Goodnight." The two said to each other after they were finished cleaning.

At about noon Christmas day, Alex headed to Zim's house. The streets were empty. Everyone was inside with their families and hiding from the cold, ice and snow the way Sally was. Sally didn't like winter. She thought it was always too cold although she had to admit the snow is pretty but unless there was snow, she hated winter. Alex on the other hand loved winter. She didn't get cold very easily and she loved the crisp clean air of winter.

She rang the doorbell and waited. Instead of someone answering a hatch opened below her feet and she dropped like a rock and slid down the slide and landed on a large web.

She let out a sigh and said, "Is this going to end up being a normal thing?"

She got no answer. She was in fact alone in the room as far as she could tell but a red light flickered through the place. She guessed it was a sign of an intruder alert or something. Gir walked up and stood about two feet away from Alex's feet and said, "Hi!"

"Hey Gir. Could you get me down from here?" Alex asked.

"Master said not to." Gir said. Alex sighed and asked, "Why?"

"I don't know." He said shrugging and started rolling around on the floor and humming a Christmas song. She let out a huff. She listened closely as she heard metal walking on metal and knew it was the spider-like legs of Zim's pack as the sound came closer.

She waited patiently as his silhouette formed in the darkness and he soon came into view.

"Will you get me down before I drop the bag please? There is something breakable in here." She said.

"What are you doing here?" Zim asked ignoring my question. He towered over me with the mechanical legs even though I was about a foot off the ground, but the web was also angled so I might as well have just been standing.

"I brought you something now will you get me down?" She asked. He had a confused expression that Alex was sure was fake. He had known she was coming, she was sure of it. Gir must have told him or something like that. He pulled her off the web and she handed him the gift from her bag and said, "Merry Christmas."

He just stared at her with a confused expression on his face.

"What?" She asked.

"Why?" He asked confused no one had ever given him a gift, well besides Gir but he couldn't actually think much about it.

"Because you're my friend. You can open it now or later if you want." She said thinking back on when she had first found the gift. She had been walking through a bookstore with Sally and Dib and saw a book and ran to it to make sure it wasn't her imagination, Taking Over the World for Dummies. She laughed when she saw the book, it was a mixture of glee and evil in the laugh that really freaked Dib out but made Sally laugh.

"This is perfect for Zim, if would be hilarious." Alex had said.

"You're seriously giving Zim one of those books? Then he could succeed." Sally said.

"No way those books are so stupid there's no way they would help him." Dib said rolling her eyes.

"I think it's funny." Alex said looking through it and said, "These have some good ideas."

"Oh great Alex is going to take over the world herself." Sally said.

"She'd do a better job than Zim." Dib muttered.

Alex returned to the present and watched Zim slowly pull off the wrapping paper.

"Are you planning on saving that paper? What are you doing carefully pulling it off? Just rip it off." Alex said teasingly. Zim rolled his eyes but obliged and ripped the paper off and gave the book a confused expression.

"Taking over the world for Dummies? Are you implying that I am a dummy?" Zim asked with a skeptical expression.

"Of course not, you're the smartest person I know. It a book, well there are a lot of books in the "for dummies" area, but all of them actually have good information on what you're reading on, they just put the "for dummies" because they are supposedly dummy-proof." She explained.

"You think I'm the smartest person you know?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered.

"Um. Thanks." He said not sure what exactly to say or how to say it.

She gave a small smile and said, "Your welcome. I don't know if it would be useful to you but it could be entertaining all the same."

He gave a small smile that Alex couldn't really see in the dim light of the room.


	27. Chapter 27: New Years of Doom!

Chapter 27 New Years of Doom!

*Okay so my every other day posting is not working at all so I will attempt to have a designated day of the week to have a new chapter out and as a condolence for making people wait, this chapter is 5 pages (on my word document) long instead of my new normal of 4, I also had a lot planned for it and 4 pages would not suffice, thanks for being patient with me and thank you for the reviews! =^.^=

The two stood in silence for a little bit until Alex spoke up and said, "Um I guess I'll be going then. Oh, we're having a little New Year's Eve party if you and Gir want to come. Around the same time as yesterday if you decide to come."

"I will make no promises." Zim answered.

"I don't expect you to make a promise to come to something that you may not want to go to." She answered and went out and up to the house, remembering the way and let herself out. Zim glanced at Gir who was playing with the large pillow that was in the form of a pig that Alex had given him. He wandered to a seat and flipped through the book. Alex had been right there were some good ideas in the book, or good instructions to anyone who didn't know the obvious.

Alex and Sally flew over the snow-covered city, but they had to fly very high so they would appear as birds to anyone outside because the snow clouds made their black wings and dark clothes stick out like a carrot at McMeatie's.

"So did he like the book?" Sally called over the rush of the wind.

"I don't know. Even if it may not be useful to him, maybe it'll at least be entertaining to compare what an Irken Invader comes up with verses a Human writer." Alex said.

"It came from you, I'm sure he at least likes it." Sally said rolling her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked and turned so that she was flying on her back under Sally, which, yes she knew was pretty stupid but she found it fun when she learned to do it right.

"I mean if he likes you then he'd have to like it a little bit simply because it came from you." Sally said exasperatedly.

"How many times do I have to say it, he doesn't like me, why would he?" Alex said.

"Then why did he kiss you hm?" Sally asked.

"I don't know absorbed in a moment or something, or I could have been the one to kiss him and he was just too dumbstruck to really react." Alex said.

"You have self esteem issues." Sally responded.

"I do not." Alex argued.

"For the most part no, but when it comes to romance, you have the lowest self esteem I've ever seen." Sally said flatly.

Alex had no argument for that; of course she knew Sally was right about that. She had virtually no self-confidence in herself when it came to romance and love.

"Okay I think it is time to go back before my feathers freeze." Sally said.

"Yeah." Alex agreed as the two landed in the snow in the forest down the street from their building and walked back.

They sat watching Christmas movies and a trailer for a new movie came on. It was another demon movie where people were supposedly possessed.

"Is that stuff actually real?" Alex asked.

"Sometimes but not by any sane demon. There are certain demons who are completely insane and go around possessing people thinking they're doing the work of Satan when all they do is get in the way and cause problems but no one knows how to get rid of them." Sally explained.

Two days before New Year's Eve, Zim was ready to carry out his plan until he noticed two or three Irken ships land deep in the forest while looking through his telescope. He recognized the symbol on one of them as the symbol that was unique to Tak.

"This can't be good." He muttered and started to set up extra security to be sure that Tak couldn't sabotage the base again.

Dib was on the roof and noticed the ships landing in the forest as well. He also recognized the symbol that was unique to Tak and went inside and to Gaz's room.

"Gaz!" He called knocking loudly on the door.

"Go away!" Gaz responded.

"But Gaz, Tak is back!" He called and the door opened. Gaz hated Tak simply because she made Zim and Dib miserable, it was her job to do that or each other's, especially to make her brother miserable.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes and she has others with her this time too." He said.

"She's more prepared. I wonder what they are doing here." Gaz said simply.

"What do you mean? Wouldn't it be revenge?" Dib asked.

"Maybe that will make her plans sweeter when she carries it out, but if she has other's with her then that is not the initial reason. If it were purely revenge she would do it alone. That's what I'd do. If I want revenge then I don't want anyone working with me, they'd just get in my way." Gaz said simply.

"Hm. I guess so." He answered.

Alex and Sally were both on the roof of the building; they were about to take off for a flight when they had spotted the ships. There were three of them and the only sense the two could make of it was that the ships looked like they had been made with similar technology as Zim's. They noticed symbols similar to the one on his ship so the two figured that they must be Irken.

"Lets check it out." Alex said seeing where they landed.

"Are you crazy? Just because Zim doesn't deem us enough threat to hurt us doesn't mean they are the same. If they are here for a bad reason and they catch us we may not have a chance." Sally said.

"Oh come on where's your sense of adventure?" Alex asked.

"I ditch it when someone suggests we be nosy." She answered.

"Okay how about this, we just fly over like normal?" Alex asked.

"Fine with me." Sally answered and the two took off into the sky and flew over the forest like they always did. When they flew over where the three ships had landed Alex looked down at them and could see five Irkens getting out of the ships. One of them was giving orders to the other four and the five changed so that they looked like humans, although two if them still had the green skin and no ears the way Zim was in his disguise.

"Wonder if they're here to check on Zim." Alex said.

"Maybe, but that one giving orders looks angry." Sally said.

Below them Tak gave orders to put disguises on. Only two had the same holographic disguises she did but she didn't care, the humans were too stupid to notice and the only ones who would notice would be Zim, Dib and Gaz. Dib has long ago been written off as crazy, Zim wouldn't risk getting caught himself and Gaz simply didn't care. Or at least she thought they were the only ones until she looked up to see two large black birds but something was off about them. She used the binoculars on her PAK to see that it was two winged girls around the age that Dib and Gaz should be. Both were looking down at them with curiosity.

"Who are they? Should we shoot them down?" One of the Irken's asked.

"No, leave them for now. We will worry about them another day." Tak answered and led the way to the city where they set up their own bases in the same area.

Alex and Sally landed later in the evening and went to bed. They had a lot to do to get ready for New Years Eve and they wanted to be sure they had sleep.

"Wonder who those Irken's were." Alex said while eating breakfast.

"Does it matter?" Sally asked while checking over what they still needed.

"Well what if they're here to help Zim, then they could destroy everything." Alex said.

"If Zim really applied himself, he could do it himself. He's just too reckless. He's very smart he just jumps on things too quickly, he's also impatient." Sally said.

"I know, I know." She answered.

"Anyway, we shouldn't worry about that, maybe they're not here to do any harm. For now let's just focus on the New Years Eve party. Is Zim coming?" Sally asked.

"I don't know." Alex answered. Sally caught the slightly depressed tone in her voice. Even if it there was a strong chance that Zim wouldn't come, Sally knew that Alex didn't like not knowing things, Sally herself didn't either, another thing they had in common, even if it was very small things, neither liked not knowing, they liked to know every detail so they could take them into account for plans.

Dib showed up at around seven and Zim and Gir showed up not too much later.

"Where's Alex?" Zim asked.

"Bathroom." Sally answered and, right on cue, Alex walked from her room and couldn't help but smile when she saw Zim and said, "Yay you came."

"Gir talked me into it." Zim answered.

"Still I'm glad you decided to come." She answered.

He just nodded and asked, "So what do you do with things like this?"

"Hang out, play games together and at midnight watch the ball drop." Sally answered.

"Watch what ball drop?" Zim and Dib both asked.

"I guess that part is out." Alex answered.

Gir attacked the food; literally, he knocked the table down and everything. Sally let out a sigh and decided to wait until Gir was done before cleaning up. When he was finished eating both she and Alex got up and went to the kitchen to clean up.

"So you showed up." Dib said to Zim.

"Yeah so?" Zim demanded.

"Why?" Dib asked.

"Because Gir kept bugging me." Zim said.

"You can handle Gir, I bet it was because you wanted to see Alex." Dib said.

"That is not why, and you're one to talk you're so pathetic worm monkey. You would do anything Sally asked you to do." Zim argued.

"At least I'm not afraid be friends with her. You're so bipolar with Alex she's probably getting whiplash. I wouldn't be surprised if soon she told you that she couldn't take it anymore, then you wouldn't have her in your life anymore." Dib said.

"Zim needs no one in his life." Zim said.

"But you want her don't you? What do you like about Alex hm?" Dib asked.

"She's headstrong, she's not afraid to be herself or tell it like it is and can take care of herself easily. She's also smart but not afraid to admit when she is confused and interested in learning new things." Zim said automatically without realizing it.

"Ha! So you do like her!" Dib said.

"Zim likes no one in such a way!" He declared.

"Right." Dib answered, not believing him.

"What do you like about Sally then hu? It's obvious that you're to scared to tell her." Zim countered.

"She's smart and friendly. She is easy to get along with but also not afraid to be sarcastic when she wants to be and she listens to me and what I have to say and I like talking to her and hearing her opinions." Dib said.

"It's safe to come to the kitchen now." Sally said from the doorway.

"Hey look they're getting along and being civilized." Alex said coming to the doorway as well.

"Barely." Dib answered.

"Hey it's a start." The two girls said in unison with shrugs.

There was a knock on the door, or more like a loud sharp raping at the door and everyone's heads turned to it confused.

"Was someone else supposed to be here?" Dib asked.

"No." Alex answered going to the door and opened it. There was a girl that stood at her shoulders so she would be about five foot four if she had to guess. She had dark violet hair and equally dark eyes. A small streak of blue flashed across her eyes and she spoke, "Hi. I need to see Zim."

The others didn't hear because Gir was talking randomness.

Alex did not like the feeling she got from this girl, if she was asking about Zim without any confirmation from her that he was even there then either she knew that Alex knew Zim or knew that Zim was there without needing confirmation.

"May I ask why?" Alex asked. The girl looked irritated and blue flashed across from her eyes again and the girl said in a commanding tone, "I know he's here so you should let me see him."

"I don't take orders from anyone unless I respect them. I don't know what it is you're trying to do but it seems as if you're trying to pull some kind of mind trick based off of you're frustrated reaction that something isn't working." Alex answered.

The girl growled and she grabbed Alex by the collar of her shirt and drug her down to her height with an unusual amount of strength and hissed at her, "If you don't go get Zim, and get Dib while you're at it, I will kill you right here and now."

"Whoa dark girl hu? You could have started off with asking nicely if they were here in the first place. Calm down." Alex said and took the girl by the back of her shirt and picked her up and carried her into the apartment and said to the others, "Hey this little girl wants to see Zim and Dib. It seems that she is willing to kill over it."

"Tak?" Zim and Dib both said in unison.

"Yes, I have returned to- put me down you insolent girl!" Tak shrieked and started to kick around.

"You need to calm down, I'll put you down when you chill out." Alex said and Tak started to claw at Alex's face but Alex just dropped her to the ground and held Tak's head in her hand at arms length.

The others laughed; it was a funny sight despite the fact that Tak would probably kill Alex if she had the chance. She deactivated her disguise and Alex and Sally weren't surprised to see that she was Irken.

Tak growled and decided to drop it and went back to what she was saying.

"As I was saying, I have returned. No I am not here to take Zim's fake mission. I am here to kill him." She said.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Revenge probably." Dib said.

"No not revenge, this is why." Tak said and activated a floating screen that turned on to reveal two Irkens that were maybe just barely taller than Zim, one had red eyes and wore all red while the other had purple eyes and wore all purple.

"My Tallest." Zim and Tak said in unison with a small bow.

"You rank by height? That's hilarious." Alex said with a snicker.

"Silence bird human!" Tak snapped.

"Good work Tak, you found him faster than I thought." Tallest Red said.

"You know Tak?" Zim asked them.

"Yes we know her, she was made an assassin and we sent her to kill you, but we wanted to tell you this first. Tak was right in telling you that your mission is a fake. We sent you away not knowing that there was actually a planet here, we hoped you would have been killed but that obviously did not happen so we sent Tak." He said.

All of us were dumbstruck. Alex looked at Zim to see that he was devastated and then it turned to anger.

Zim had no idea what to say. After six years of thinking that he was an Invader, they just sent him away in hopes that he would die. His mood changed to anger and he was determined to conquer Earth by himself and take revenge on the Tallest.

"Thank you Tak, you may go back to what you were doing." Tallest Purple said and the transmission was cut.

"Now, back to business. I must say I will enjoy this. Dib and Gaz will also taste my revenge after I'm through with Zim, so if you two pitiful girls want to live longer then stay out of my way." Tak said. Alex and Sally both stood in front of her and stared her down.

"Get out of our apartment." Sally said her crimson eyes flashing dangerously.

"You dare stand in my way?" Tak demanded.

"Yeah we dare. I dare you to try and cause any problems." Alex answered.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with." Tak snapped.

"And you have no idea of the things we have dealt with. Now get out, we don't want this turning into a New Year's of Doom." Sally said. Tak glared at them and started to walk out saying, "You two will regret it if you continue to stand in my way."


	28. Chapter 28: What a Way to Start New Year

Chapter 28 "What a Way to Start a New Year"

*So I think my designated day for updating will be Saturday, or Sunday if I'm falling behind. Let's see how well this works (fingers crossed that I can keep it up and keep up in school)

The rest of the party had been tense and quiet until about eleven when Alex and Sally managed to lighten the mood by Alex playing her acoustic guitar and she and Sally made up goofy and stupid lyrics to go with the tune. The tunes were usually songs they knew from other artists but they wanted to lighten the mood so they replaced the original lyrics with random and stupid ones. They even managed to get Zim to laugh and that was an achievement in of itself.

Most likely what was funny was that they sang the stupid lyrics seriously. They sat there very serious singing the lyrics hitting the correct notes and everything but the lyrics were anything but serious.

By the second song they managed to make Zim laugh and Alex immediately got up and did a happy dance, which made everyone laugh.

"What?" Alex asked innocently.

"You look so stupid doing that." Zim said after he stopped laughing.

"Uh hu…what's your point?" She asked.

"It seems that I don't have one. Or not one that would change anything." He said.

"Aw you know you wouldn't want her to change." Sally said. Zim just stared at her blankly.

"Thirty seconds until Midnight, everyone have their glasses ready?" Alex asked.

"Yup." Sally said checking.

"What are we doing exactly?" Dib asked.

"Toasting the New Year." Sally answered.

"What is the point in doing this?" Zim asked.

"There's always a reason to toast to the New Year, we can say that we have lived another year and toast to all of the good things that have come with this past year. Sally and I have found a place we're happy and have made great new friends like you and Dib." Alex said to him.

He didn't respond but he didn't need to. Alex and Sally were counting down from ten while they watched on TV the fuse for the large torch-bonfire thing that this world did instead of a ball dropping. It burst into flames and they toasted the New Year. Sally decided to be bold and put her hand on the back of Dib's head and kissed him. Alex wolf whistled and Dib kissed Sally back.

The two pulled away blushing and both said in unison, "Wow."

Alex and Zim both refrained from looking at each other, now feeling a little awkward around one another. Neither knew where they stood other than friends even though Sally never hesitated to try and push them together.

"Who wants to go on a walk?" Sally asked.

"Why?" Dib asked.

"Because it's fun to walk around at night." Alex answered.

"Walking around just because?" Zim asked.

"Yeah why not? No real destination but it makes you feel as if you were going somewhere." She answered.

"That seems pointless." Zim answered.

"Yeah I have to agree with Zim here." Dib answered.

"You dare agree with me?" Zim snapped at him.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun, just try it." Sally said taking Dib's hand and pulling him off the futon. Alex took Zim's wrist and pulled him up but he resisted and pulled back.

"Come on lazy. Get up and let's go walking around." Alex said trying to pull him up again. He yanked back before Alex could let go and accidentally pulled her hard enough to cause her to fall and she fell on his lap as if she had just been sitting on his lap the whole time. Sally laughed and said, "Or me and Dib can go on a walk if you two would rather stay here alone, we can take Gir with us."

Before either of them could answer Sally called Gir who was already in his disguise again and the three were gone.

"Wai-" Both Alex and Zim started to say and fell into silence. Alex started to get off Zim but he had his arms wrapped around her waist and didn't let go.

"Um, Zim?" She asked. He didn't respond, he rested his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed. Alex stayed quiet for a little while before asking, "Are you okay?"

"No." He said simply. She caught on, he must been pondering what his leaders had said to him. She had an idea as to how he felt since she had been treated like a failure and hunted her entire life, but what she couldn't know was being told something like that in front of others like a slap in the face.

She almost said, 'I'm sorry' but she knew that it wouldn't help, instead she hesitantly wrapped her arms around him in a hug to show that she was there for him. He seemed to understand because he didn't react.

They sat that way in silence for a while, both enjoying it but neither would ever admit it aloud. Alex and Zim were both too stubborn to actually admit something like that.

What Alex and Zim did not notice was that Tak and her companions were nearby watching them.

"Why are we waiting like this miss?" One of the Irkens, Zan asked.

"We need to be patient." Tak answered.

"We know where Zim lives and besides two of them plus his pathetic excuse for a robot left. If we strike now then it will be five against two, isn't that why we're here? To be sure you have the upper hand by outnumbering him and the two humans who helped him?" Another named Ben asked.

"You make a valid point, but the question is how long will the two be alone. Sue, track the Dib human and his weird girlfriend, contact me when you've found them and give an approximate return time. In the meantime, let's give the stubborn lovebirds some alone time. The Tallest will be very interested in learning about Zim's little girlfriend." Tak said smoothly as one of the female Irken's left.

"Disgusting, how could he fall for a human?" Zan asked.

"For one thing, she is not all human, she has wings of the birds of this planet, that is not normal for humans, her friend is similar. And besides, we can use this to our advantage in case this attempt fails." Tak answered.

"How so?" Ben asked.

"Zim has many flaws, he is reckless and naiveté as well as cocky and a little narcissistic, but his flaws rarely bring him down as a weakness. If he cares for another then that could be the weakness that will aid in us bringing him down." Tak explained.

"You really think Zim would submit to anything because of an Earthly?" Zan asked.

"It seems that if he is allowing such close contact then yes he may indeed submit to our will for her sake. But that will only be a last resort if the other things don't succeed." She answered.

"Very well." He said.

Unaware that they were being watched Alex and Zim halfheartedly talked about anything but his leaders or Tak. He had explained how Dib knew Tak but that was the extent of it.

"So you play music hm?" He asked her.

"Yes." Alex answered.

"What instruments do you play besides the guitar?" He asked.

"Piano and violin." She answered.

"Violin?" He asked.

"Yes. I haven't seen many in this world which could explain why you don't know what it is." She answered.

"Do you have one?" He asked.

"I did but it was destroyed." She answered.

"Destroyed?" He asked.

"Yeah, didn't get it out of a burning building in time." She answered, not elaborating. She didn't feel that it needed elaboration and even if she felt that it did, she still wouldn't elaborate anyways.

"Oh, okay." He answered. There was a crash from the kitchen and they both immediately jumped up to their feet and Alex was the first to get to the kitchen to investigate and was knocked to the side immediately. She slammed into the wall and slid to the floor.

"Ow, that hurt." She said rubbing the side of her head where she knew a bruise would be later.

"I told you and your friend will regret it if you stand in my way. That is you're second warning, stand in my way one more time and I won't be so forgiving." Tak said.

"I'll give you props Tak, that was a good hit, but that won't stop me from being in your way if I don't believe in what you're doing. I stand in Zim's way when he's carrying out his plans and he's my friend. I have no problem standing in your way." Alex said getting up.

"You do not know when to quit do you bird-human?" Tak asked.

"I'm very stubborn, as you seem to be." Alex answered with a challenging expression. Tak pulled out some sort of gun and directed it at Zim and said, "I wish I could make this a longer more excruciating death for you, but I am anxious to be rid of you as are the Tallest."

She pulled the trigger but the laser beam hit the wall behind them as Alex had pushed Zim out of the way and the two fell to the floor. Tak growled in irritation and had pulled Alex off the floor by the collar of her shirt and thrown away from Zim and someone took a firm hold on Alex and restrained her arms behind her.

"Let go of me!" Alex growled.

"Feisty aren't you? Now that I see you close up, I can see why Zim would be attracted to you. You are fairly attractive, well for a human at least." Zan said keeping a firm hold of Alex's wrists. Zan was the tallest of the five who came and he stood maybe an inch or two taller than Alex, which made him about three or four inches shorted than Zim.

Alex tried to free herself of the Irken's grasp but it didn't work, he was stronger than she was.

"Why are all of you Irken's so strong?" Alex demanded with half of her attention of Zim and Tak who were circling each other waiting for one or the other to attack.

"We are superior." Zan said and leaned closer and said in her ear, "In more ways than one."

His tongue snaked out and licked Alex's neck up to her jaw line. Shivers of disgust ran across her skin. She tried to open her wings to put distance between them but he was too close and she had no room to even open her wings.

"Get away from me." Alex hissed, a tremor rolling across the ground.

"No can do, we need you out of the way while Tak kills your boyfriend and after Tak is done taking out Dib and his little sister I might just make you my personal slave." He responded.

"I'd rather cut my wings off with a rusty saw and do a take off over the city cesspool than allow any of that to happen." Alex responded.

"What creative responses you have." He purred in her ear.

Zim kept half of his attention on Alex and the companion of Tak's that was restraining her and the other half on Tak. He couldn't really hear what he was saying but a fierce anger rose up when the Irken licked Alex and had a lecherous look on his face, he obviously had no shame. Zim wanted to kill the Irken but he had his own problems at the moment trying to stay alive against Tak. She may have been about a head shorter than he was, but he knew she was still deadly and he had no real idea as to what her wrath was like and he didn't want to take chances with her.

The pressure increased, as did the temperature and thunder rumbled outside. Whatever the Irken was saying, it was making Alex mad as far as Zim could tell.

"Come on Zim, just give it up. You're both outnumbered and outmatched. Think of your people, they would be better off without you and your screw ups anyways." Tak said to him.

An Irken female came in and said, "The other two are coming back, if we are to finish this we should do it now. That red-eyed girl is dangerous."

Lightning cracked and shocked Zan from the open backdoor and he let go of Alex who roundhouse kicked him in the side of the face and popping his jaw out of place. It would have been comical if the expression he wore were not so insane with rage. His jaw snapped back into place and grabbed Alex by the throat and pinned her to the wall. Zim was about to react but Tak attacked him and tried to shoot him again. The other three Irkens were not sure as to what they should do until Dib and Sally showed up.

"We leave for a walk and come back to find people trying to kill one another. Just what we need." Dib said.

"What a way to start the New Year. Come on lets help before someone gets hurt." Sally answered.


	29. Chapter 29: Zim's Latest Scheme

Chapter 29 Zim's Latest Scheme

*Screw it I finished it today I'm posting it today

Tak seemed surprised by Dib and Zim's fighting skills, the last time she had seen them they would just roll around kicking and hitting. She understood why Dib had fought that way because he was a child, but Zim was technically a young adult in the terms of Irkens but they had fought immaturely, now it seemed they both knew what they were doing and they were more observant while fighting.

She wasn't surprised, however, by the two girls with wings. She could tell that they both were tough and had a history of hardships and fighting for survival when she first saw the two up close only a few hours ago. Their way of fighting was odd as well. Tak had seen various ways if fighting in humans, just by looking at Dib's way of fighting. Their way of fighting seemed to have something older in it mixed with street fighting. The two girls fought dirty. They fought to win just like any other teenage female but they seemed use to it. Fighting Tak and her companions seemed fairly normal to them.

Sally decided to use a little of her power, especially when the Irkens started shooting at them. She used shields that absorbed the lasers and threw it back at them in a ball of energy.

"Whoa, how long have you been able to do that?" Dib asked her.

"Eh he, forever. Sorry I never told you but I don't use that stuff unless I have to." She said quickly and shielded the two from lasers.

"Why?" He asked kicking one of the Irken's away.

"Hard to control." She answered.

"We need to find a way to move this outside before the building is destroyed." Alex said to Sally.

"Not a problem." Sally said and grabbed Dib and took off out the door behind the Irkens and landed on the ground neatly.

Alex took Zim's hand and pulled him out the door with her and her wings snapped out. She wrapped her arms around Zim as she flew down to the ground and landed next to Sally and Dib and let go of Zim.

As expected the five Irken's followed on the spidery legs from their PAKs.

Zan jumped from the building and landed right over Alex and towered over her with the extra height bade by the legs.

"Playing hard to get hu?" He asked her. Her anger fueled a strong storm that had blown in. It hadn't actually started yet but it was close. Another flash of lighting string right next to Zan and he jumped away. Lighting affected Irkens more simple because they had the PAKs that helped them survive.

"Why do I get the feeling that you have something to do with the weather changes?" He asked her while the two threw punches and dodged each other's swings.

"Maybe because I do have something to do with it." She countered, her violet eyes glowing and changing color to a fiery red in response to her anger towards the ass she was fighting. She had never felt such anger towards someone when first meeting them but this Irken really pissed her off and all she wanted was for him to burst into flames.

She would have likely hated Tak as well for trying, and wanting, to kill Zim, but she couldn't help but have a grudging respect for the violet-eyed Irken. The other three Irkens she felt nothing towards, if they weren't trying to hurt her friends, they would be a fly on the wall to Alex, simply nothing.

Alex directed her anger and changed it into lighting striking at an Irken that was too close to stabbing Sally in the back, but that had distracted Alex and she was knocked back and slammed into the side of a boulder in the forest.

She was dizzy and was coughing and choking to get air back into her lungs. She lay on her side too dizzy to get up just yet.

Zim and Tak seemed to be fairly equally matched. Zim let his anger fuel him while fighting her.

"I told you six years ago but you didn't believe me. Maybe you should have; your anger now is proving to be a great strength for you. Not that it would still help you, you will still always be a defect and a screw up. Everyone would be better off without you around, especially Irk." Tak said to bait him. Zim growled in anger and continued to fight her. He wanted to kill her but that was only the start. When Tak was gone Zim planned to take over the Earth himself and challenge the Tallest and kill anyone in his way.

Dib and Sally worked well together when fighting. They had no problems with communication when they needed the other for assistance.

"Duck!" Sally called to Dib who immediately ducked as she threw a ball of energy that crackled, absorbing the energy from the lighting that flashed around them and hit the Irken he was fighting as well as the one that was right behind him.

"Where's Alex?" Sally asked after Dib had hit the third Irken so hard across the head that they fell to the ground knocked out.

"I don't know." He answered as they looked around. The fourth Irken she had been fighting was nowhere to be seen either.

Tak took a quick look around to see that Zan was nowhere to be seen, neither was Alex and her other three were both defeated. She weighed the options and decided that it was best to retreat for now. She jumped away from Zim and disappeared to find Zan. She found him a little deeper in the forest taunting and just playing with Alex who had been struggling to breathe and the back of her head was bleeding. Tak had to give it to Alex; she would not give up even if her body was not responding well to the little bit of oxygen it was taking in. She continued to try and fight Zan even if she was worn.

Zan may have been annoying but he was a very strong fighter and was good to have him on her side.

"Zan, leave her you can have your fun later, it's time to retreat and come up with another plan." Tak said to him and the two disappeared with the other three Irkens.

Alex wandered out of the forest to see that the other three looked about the same as she did, cuts and bruises and few burns on Sally's part from blocking lasers with a shield. Whatever damage Sally's shield took, Sally herself took it as well; though it didn't kill her it was certainly a downfall to using the shield when she needed to.

"Where did you go?" Sally demanded.

"That one Irken, Zan I think is his name, had knocked me into a boulder back in the forest. I'd like to smash his head with a boulder." Alex said. She was glad that, for once, the weather responded to her will so that rain did not dump on them. She had no idea if Zim had the coating of paste on him or not and she did not want to take a risk of hurting him so she had pleaded that it would not rain with the storm.

"For once it seems the weather obliged to your will. I'm assuming you fought to hold off the rain for Zim's sake?" Sally asked her, practically reading her mind.

"Yes." Alex answered. The four went back into the building to survey the damage of the apartment. Besides a few burns on the walls there wasn't much. They could fix the burnt wall themselves. Gir was asleep on the futon; he didn't seem bothered by the fighting.

"Good thing we took that outside, or the apartment would have been destroyed." Dib said.

"Yeah. Well I think it is time for bed. Anyone who wants to stay the night are free to do so but we need to know now." Sally said.

"I don't want to go anywhere else for now." Dib said.

"I'll stay as well." Zim said.

"Okay then who is willing to sleep on the futon and who is willing to sleep in Alex's room?" Sally asked.

"If we can move Gir then I'll sleep on the futon." Dib said. Alex picked Gir up and he wrapped his little robotic arms around her neck like a child with its mother.

Sally got pillows and blankets for Dib.

"You can use my bathroom if you need to." Alex said to Zim and Dib and showed where in her room her bathroom was.

Alex and Sally shared Sally's bed and everyone went to sleep. Gir slept at their feet and was up very early jumping on Alex until she woke up. One thing Gir learned quickly was to not wake Alex up. Sally was more a morning person and you didn't mess with her if she was trying to go to sleep and was tired. Alex you just don't wake her up unless it is important or you have a death wish.

When she noticed who it was that had woken her up she decided to leave him be and went ahead and got out what was needed for breakfast. She wasn't going to start on it until later since it was about five a.m.

She went on the back porch with her guitar and sat on the rail and strummed a song and sang along to it.

Zim woke up, his antenna picking up movement and sound in the apartment. He heard the back door open and close and stepped out into the kitchen from Alex's room to investigate. He saw a silhouette sitting on the rail outside and stood at the door to look out and see whom it was. It was Alex. He could hear the guitar and her singing. He listened to the lyrics and recognized it from one that he had read in her notebook, one that was in the back of the notebook so it was a more personal song.

He leaned against the door and listened.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked causing Zim to jump a little. It was Dib.

"What?" Zim asked quietly.

"What are you doing?" Dib repeated.

"Listening Dib-stink." Zim snapped at him.

"Why?" Dib asked.

"None of your business worm-monkey; leave me alone." Zim answered. Dib just rolled his eyes and walked away.

The rest of the week they also had off and Sally and Alex were grateful of it. It gave them more time to work on flying through forest and trees.

"Wonder when we will learn to stop flying into each other head on." Sally said sourly as she rubbed her head to try and get it to stop hurting.

"Who knows but this is getting annoying." Alex said getting up as they two walked out of the forest into the park.

"What the heck?" Sally asked. The two looked around to see all of the people in sight walking in the same direction. Everyone had blank looks on their faces and walked as if they were robots.

Alex and Sally both looked at each other and said, "Zim."

"Wonder how he did this." Alex commented.

"Who cares how, we need to focus on what he's doing with this." Sally said.

"Well I wonder how he managed to do something like this to almost everybody at once." Alex commented.

"Let's find Dib and find out if he knows." Sally said.

"Assuming he isn't a robotic zombie." Alex answered.

"I'd rather not see Dib under Zim's control, that would be bad." Sally said and the two took off and flew to Dib's house. No one was paying any attention; they were all walking to the center of town. They landed at the front door and rang the doorbell. The door opened and Gaz walked out like a robotic zombie the way everyone else was and walked right by them leaving the door open.

They went inside and looked around. Dib was nowhere to be found so they headed to his room to find a note on his bed.

_Sally and Alex. I expected you two to come find out if the Dib-human would be affected the way everyone else is. I was sure to make sure he would not be just as I did not allow you two to be affected. It would take the fun out of the plan. Dib has just stupidly walked into a trap. Good luck._

_ Zim_

"Well damn this should be interesting." Alex said.

"We need to get Dib." Sally said.

"Then we would be walking right into Zim's trap. I know you wanna free your boyfriend but that is exactly what he wants us to do so there will be no one to stand in his way." Alex said.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sally asked.

"I'm not really sure." Alex answered.

"Then let's split up, I'll carefully go and try to free Dib and you go find out what is Zim's exact plan." Sally said.

"I don't know. Splitting up is never a good idea and I know we can't just leave Dib but we also need to find out Zim's plan." Alex said.

"You are a very indecisive person." Sally commented.

"I know. I guess splitting up is the best thing to do for now even if it's probably a very stupid mistake." Alex answered.

"Then see you later." Sally said.

"You too." Alex responded and the two took off in separate directions. Sally headed for Zim's house and Alex followed the people below to the mall. They filed inside and Alex landed on the roof and looked through a skylight to survey exits, how many people and other various important things to keep in mind and then went to the stairwell and silently went down the stairs knowing she was probably being watched.


	30. Chapter 30: It All Happens Too Fast

Chapter 30 It All Happens Too Fast

Sally knocked on the door, hoping Gir would be there and let her in because he was nice that way (or the way Zim would put it, stupid that way). The door opened on it's own and she knew it was a trap but she didn't know a way to get around it since there were no visible sensors or anything like it. She stepped inside and walked over to where one of the elevators was.

About halfway to the elevator the floor opened up under her and she dropped and fell into a thick glass ball that closed her in the minute she landed.

"Sally?" Dib asked next to her. He was also in a glass ball to her left. She looked around and noticed an empty sphere to her right.

"Where's Alex?" Dib asked.

"We split up, I guess it was a good thing too since she would have been trapped as well." Sally answered

"What's going on up there?" He asked her.

"Some kind of mind control I think. Everyone except us were affected simply because Zim found it more fun for us to be aware but could do nothing to stop it, or as far as he knew." Sally answered.

"Oh I know there is nothing you can do about this plan." A monitor floated up to face them.

He glanced at the empty sphere and said, "Even if one of you is still loose I will succeed this time. I have traps set up everywhere it's only a matter of time before Alex falls into one of them."

"This is even worse than the siphoning power Zim. You're taking away everyone's freedom, from themselves." Sally said.

"I really don't care." Zim answered and the transmission was cut.

Sally tried throwing an energy ball at the glass but it did nothing, if anything it absorbed the energy.

"We need to figure out a way out of here." Dib said. Sally looked around the area for solutions but came up short.

Zim sat in the security guards office and watched the monitors. Everything was going according to plan besides the two choosing to split up, but he anticipated that they might choose to follow the humans instead of going to find Dib so he had traps set up. Unlike Sally and almost purposely falling into a trap, Alex was more careful and seemed to be more skilled in finding and avoiding traps.

He watched her avoid every trap and his irritation grew but he was also impressed. Much of it looked like it was luck but there were others that she truly recognized as traps and managed to avoid them. She slipped up, literally. He couldn't help but give an amused smile thinking back on when Alex herself had said that she was considerably accident prone and clumsy. When she had her graceful moments, it would last for only a maximum of ten minutes and then it would come around and just stop and it would be her downfall.

She was indeed right. When she slipped it triggered the very last trap that was in her way and she was caught in a net that was installed with a cloaking device so for a few seconds it looked like she was just hanging in midair until the net became visible.

"This is what I get for spending all of my free time off the ground, clumsiness and getting caught." She said with a sigh, knowing it was pointless to try and stay silent now.

Zim left the office and down one floor and down a hall. When he got there he saw Alex working at the net with a switchblade but it wasn't working.

"Zim is no fool. I made the net myself you won't be able to break free of it anytime soon." Zim said to her.

"We'll see." Alex answered putting the switchblade away in the side of one of her boots. Alex was known for her combat boots the way Dib was known for his trench coat, Sally for her wristbands and Zim for his general outfit, the difference was that Alex was known different for her boots, yes she wore them all the time but many things have come from those boots the way items came from Marry Poppins' bag. Never ending.

She pulled out wire cutters and tried those on the net. Zim found it amusing at the things she tried on the net, one being a lighter and trying to melt or set the net on fire.

"Wipe that grin off your face before I do it for you." Alex said to Zim, she didn't even need to look at him to know that he was smirking in amusement.

"I thought we were friends." Zim said.

"Yes but that doesn't change the fact that you trapped me in a net and find it amusing at the methods I use to try and get free or the fact that I don't like being trapped in any way." She answered sourly. Of course no one liked getting caught in traps, but it put Alex in a really bad mood anytime she fell into a trap, it made her feel like an idiot the way normal stupid mistakes would anyone.

"So you're just sour because you feel stupid." Zim confirmed.

"Can it." She muttered and pulled out something else similar to wire cutters.

"You can keep trying, but without a key it's not going to let up." Zim said and walked off. Alex looked up at the place where the net ended and what held it off the ground began to see an oddly shaped keyhole, obviously it was shaped that way so it would be hard to pick, not that Alex wouldn't try. She pulled out the necessary tools for picking locks and started to work at it. It was hard in the net because she kept falling or getting tangled.

"Wonder how Alex is doing." Sally said.

"With luck she hasn't gotten caught." Dib answered.

"It's Alex. I love her and she can get pretty far without getting caught in a trap, but lets face it right when she is almost home free something happens and she gets caught or stuck in a trap." Sally said.

"I've noticed that she's pretty clumsy." Dib answered (look at what they're saying about you Alex!).

"Mhm." Sally responded.

"You're not clumsy and yet you still fell into the trap." Dib pointed out.

"I know. We knew that it would be a trap if we can to find you but I wanted to so I would know that you were okay so we decided to split up." She answered.

"So if Alex gets caught and none of us find a way out then we're doomed." Dib stated.

"That sounds about right. So we need to get out so we aren't doomed." Sally said and turned a dial on her watch to release a little more of her power and focused it like a laser and made a circle and kicked the glass out quickly, noticing that the glass had started to mend itself. She jumped out before it closed back up.

"Get back." Sally said to Dib. She did the same and he jumped out.

"Where are the people going?" Dib asked.

"Ah…I don't know." Sally answered.

"Maybe there are still some out making their way to wherever." He answered. They went up into the house and went outside to see the streets completely deserted.

"Lets think of every place that has enough room for virtually everyone in the city." Sally said.

"The mall, which would be the only place." Dib answered.

"Then we head to the mall." Sally answered and took off with the two of them. They landed on the roof and looked down from a skylight to see everyone in town gathered in the mall and being given directions. Sally looked around for Alex but couldn't find her.

"Where's Zim? The people are taking orders but Zim's nowhere to be seen." Dib said.

"Guess we should go find them. We need to be wary of traps though." Sally said heading to the door. Dib followed and the two together managed to avoid every trap. They noticed the net and that it had been cut at and the lock had been picked.

"Well Alex was caught." Dib said.

"Lets hope she hasn't been caught again. There's only three of us on the same side right now, so to speak, if Tak and her companions show up for a fight or something then we will have a lot of problems." Sally commented.

"Yeah." Dib agreed and the two went looking for Zim so they could find out what was controlling the people and try and find Alex to make a plan.

Zim had given the directions to the humans through a remote and went back to the monitors to check on Alex to find that she was gone as were Dib and Sally. They had gotten past the traps together and were going over what they should do. He looked on the rest of the monitors and it took him a while to find Alex.

She was on a hallway where some bathrooms, storage and a fire exit were, but she wasn't alone. A dark violet haired girl and a boy with dark red hair stood before her and had cornered her. It seemed that they were just talking; Alex was likely stalling.

Zim gave the humans their jobs to do and they wandered off robotically out of the mall in various groups and headed out of the office again to find Tak and keep her away from Alex.

"They're leaving. Why are they all leaving?" Dib asked.

"Maybe they're carrying out orders." Sally answered.

"Seems so." Dib answered and noticed Zim across the way and pushed Sally down with him out of sight before he saw them.

The two stayed quiet until Zim was gone and went into the room he had left and found what Zim had been using to control everyone. The problem would be to hack in.

Alex had been looking for the power to the mall to see if shutting it off would work when she heard someone following her and turned to see a girl with dark violet hair. She came up to Alex's shoulders, which wasn't unusual for human females; Alex was just tall for her age. The other was a boy a few inches taller than she was with dark red hair and bright orange eyes. The girl had dark purple eyes and Alex recognized the female as Tak's human disguise.

"What brings you here Tak?" Alex asked her.

"I wanted to see Zim fail one last time before I wiped him off the face of this filthy dirt ball you call a planet." Tak responded.

"Maybe fail, maybe succeed, he seems to be doing fairly well so far." Alex responded.

"Yes, so far, but you got out of his net." Tak said.

"So? Anyways what are you doing here in this particular spot following me?" Alex asked.

"Zim is watching the monitors for the entire building, he will notice that you have escaped and search the building for you, find you and come get you so you won't be in his way." Zan said and stepped closer. Alex recognized his voice and wanted to punch him in the face.

"So since you think that Zim is already on his way over here just let him come to you." Alex stated.

"Exactly." Tak answered.

"Plus I just couldn't wait to see you again. It's just so much fun to play with you." Zan said standing beside her and took her hand. She jerked it back and stepped away, formulating a plan on how to try and take both of them on alone.

"What are you two doing here?" Zim snapped. Zan and Tak turned to him.

"We knew that you would come looking for Alex since she would get in the way of your plan so we followed her to wait for you." Tak explained.

"Hm interesting method." He commented, not revealing that he had shown up to keep them away from Alex, of course he wouldn't admit that to them because then they would use it against him.

"But it worked." Tak said aiming a gun at him, while talking she had moved so that she could back Zim into a corner so he couldn't run anywhere. She pulled the trigger but something, or someone, had knocked her down and she had missed by a long shot.

Tak shrieked in fury at Alex and pushed her off. She got up before Alex did and placed a boot on her chest and pressed the toe into her throat. Just enough for her to still be able to breath but it would be a struggle and it would hurt.

"You are quickly proving to be a serious irritation to me. I would kill you, but Zan wants to keep you as a pet so I will enjoy torturing you for being in the way when your boyfriend is gone." Tak said glaring daggers at Alex.

"I would rather swim in a pool of liquid nitrogen before I let any of that happen." Alex responded and managed to get her fingers under Tak's boot enough to push hard enough to throw her off and to the floor. Alex got up at the same time as Tak and the two attacked each other.

"Hm cat fight." Zim muttered.

"What?" Zan asked him.

"Just what these pitiful humans call two girls fighting, a cat fight." Zim responded rolling his eyes.

"You have been on Earth for much too long, you should have just accepted being on Foodcourtia, at least you would still act like an Irken instead of insisting on a chance that the Tallest only gave you to get rid of you." Zan said, baiting him.

"Silence! I will take over this puny planet and prove the Tallest wrong! I will rule and destroy the Empire and make it my own." Zim snapped at him.

"You won't be able to do that acting like a human using Irken weaponry." He responded. Zim pulled out a gun and aimed it at Zan's head and said, "It's not necessarily Irken weaponry if I modified it myself, it's my own. And sometimes thinking like a human can be useful."

"Not if you're falling in love. It's proof that you're a defect, you're PAK doesn't even force you to stifle those feelings anymore." He responded.

"Lies! Falling in love? That's absurd!" Zim declared.

"Then you should have no problem with me taking her," He indicated Alex still fighting with Tak, "As my pet." He said, testing Zim who did exactly what he expected and punched Zan in the side of the face.

"I knew it." Zan said with a dark smile.

Alex was thrown into the wall and Tak fired, aiming her gun right at Zim who was ready to kill Zan. The laser hit him in the side before he could react.

"Zim!" Alex nearly screamed and ran at Tak blinded with rage and knocked her to the ground with one of her hands grabbing her chin. The fall broke Tak's neck.

Sally and Dib ran into the scene and said, "We managed to turn off the control on the people-what happened?" They stared at the scene. Alex slowly got up and staggered away from Tak and Zan stepped closer to Tak.

"Wow…guess I underestimate you bird-girl. You managed to kill me." Tak said to Alex who refused to accept it. Instead she went over to Zim to check on him. He was bleeding badly.

"It's too late for Zim, but you will pay for doing this to Tak." Zan said to Alex and disappeared with Tak's body.

Alex gently put Zim's head on her lap and looked down at him. Rain poured from outside and the temperature dropped more so the rain turned into freezing rain and made the snow outside on the ground slushy.

"Don't listen to him. It's not too late, you're going to be okay." Alex said folding her jacket and put pressure on the wound with it, Zim grunted in pain. She said it more to convince herself. Dib and Sally stood by and stayed silent the only sound was Zim's shallow breathing.

"I'm so sorry Zim, I should have gotten the gun away from her." Alex said quietly as a few tears fell from her eyes. She tried to hide it and stay strong like she always did but she was afraid and couldn't hold the tears back. Zim rolled his eyes at her and responded, "Not your fault so stop sniveling worm-monkey."

Alex gave a small choked laugh in response but couldn't stop the tears no matter how hard she tried.

"You know…it's really…starting to…get cold in here." Zim commented giving Alex a pointed look, or trying to. She understood it and tried to make it warmer. She succeeded and it got very warm in the hall.

"Guess its not working hu?" Zim asked. Alex gave him a confused look and he said, "It's still cold." After hearing this Alex didn't bother to try and hold back the tears and they fell freely.

Zim's eyes closed as he submitted to his PAK's commands forced him into unconsciousness from blood loss.

"No Zim, you can't die. You're the indestructible Zim. Please don't leave me!" Alex cried and freely sobbed. Dib wrapped his arms around Sally and she buried her face him his shoulder, she had never seen Alex cry and never wanted to and she couldn't stand to see it.

A light smile formed on Zim's lips and Alex could feel his pulse slowing down. Gir wandered in and walked over curious.

"Master? Why are you lying there like that?" He asked.

"Master? Master?" Gir asked trying to get a response and poked Zim repeatedly knowing that it annoyed him and he would yell at him to stop any second. When he didn't tears started to well up in his eyes.

"What's wrong with master? Why won't he wake up?" Gir asked crying. No one could handle seeing Gir crying.

Alex didn't respond. She continued to put pressure on Zim's wound even though his blood was leaking between her fingers and had long ago soaked her jacket. She just kept repeating over and over while crying, "You can't die. You won't die. You're Zim you can't die."

Dib and Sally walked up to them and Dib spoke up, "Let's get him home." Alex didn't move, so Sally tried to pull her away but she jerked away and refused to move, she was afraid that if she stopped putting pressure on the wound then Zim would die even if he had stopped bleeding a while ago and his pulse had slowed so much that Alex could no longer feel it.

"Alex, please. He's gone, let's just get him home." Sally said and a sob escaped from Alex, which made Gir want to cry harder. Tears fell from Sally and Dib's faces as well. No matter how much Dib and Zim argued, Dib would never really want Zim dead. He had long ago given up trying to expose Zim so he would be experimented on because he did, deep down, consider Zim a friend and he would never want him dead.

End

Whoo! Finished this story, but don't worry there is a sequel (well it's actually a trilogy called _Unique_) that will be called _Tensions Run High_ and it will likely be rated M for violence, blood, gore and possibly some steamy scenes (I'm still contemplating on that)


End file.
